Tohsaka Online
by chronodekar
Summary: AU: (Post-UBW True End) Rin Tohsaka finds herself stuck in the virtual game world of Aincrad. SAO world mechanics changed for sake of plot.
1. The announcement that trapped everyone

**DISCLAIMER:** Fate/Stay Night belongs to the company Type-Moon. It was originally a Visual Novel developed by Kinoko Nasu. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara. It was originally written as a Light Novel. Characters and Settings belong to their respective owners. I'm just borrowing them for noncommercial entertainment. Feel free to redistribute this story as long as you give due credit.

_Author's Notes  
_The first draft (over 7000 words) I wrote of this crossover idea invoked quite a response. It was blasted on both The Fanfiction Forum (TFF) and Beast's Lair (BL) with comments like 'manifestly impossible' , 'stilted(?)' , 'Please don't.' , 'making simple things more complicated' , 'goes against what a VRMMORPG is like' and my personal favorite - 'No.'

At that point, if I wanted to continue writing I had two options - I could just blatantly ignore everyone's opinion and just resume my original idea OR I could scrap the whole thing and start from scratch. Since there appears to be someone already doing the former, I decided to take the latter option.

That's right. I decided to throw away the 7765 word draft I wrote and start again.

This time instead of writing by myself, I took into consideration the different opinions people were willing to share with me and changed my plot accordingly. **daniel_gudman** (TFF) was most invaluable in pointing out flaws in the original draft. In fact, it was his idea that I decided to use to explain the villain's agenda as well as some of the changes I wanted to try in the SAO universe.

I scrapped the first opening scene I wrote for this chapter and replaced it with an idea from **nununu** (BL). **RoanDracniil** (BL) helped me solve a problem addressing a character I did not want to name in this story. Not that I dislike the guy, but he does not have a major role in this story.

Of course, before I finally settled on the current story-idea, I engaged in a lot of discussion hammering out the nitty details. I want to thank **daniel_gudman** (TFF), **Chaos** (BL), **Flere821** (BL), **Bishamon** (BL) and **nununu** (BL) for helping me filter out the diamonds from the sand while throwing the useless rocks to the dump.

This is not to mean that others who were involved in the discussion are unimportant. You are. I've read each and every one of your replies. The encouragements some of you sent me really made my day.

The response to the beta release of this chapter has been colossal! It was popular enough that I had to create a thread on spacebattles (SB) to discuss it, in addition to the TFF and BL threads. Here are the names of those who helped me fix the grammar/spelling/other mistakes that snuck in - **daniel_gudman** (TFF), **LordsFire** (SB), **Francis Saber** (FFN), **PhantomPhysicst** (?), **Darth Artemis** (SB) and **LeopardBear** (BL). I thank you very much for taking the time to help me out. If I've forgotten anyone, please PM me and I'll add your name to the list.

_-chronodekar_  
(21/October/2012)

_Reading Recommendation:_

Please adjust the size of your window (or zoom level) so that this sentence will fit in two lines (including the full stop).

* * *

Tohsaka Online

=a _Fate/Stay Night_ and _Sword Art Online_ crossover fanfiction=

(chapter - 01)

_The announcement that trapped everyone_

* * *

_**Bedroom, Tohsaka**__** manor**_

"What are you doing _this time_ idiot?" Rin Tohsaka asked her husband.

He looked up from under the table and faced her. Rin was standing in front of him, her black hair trailing loosely down her back over her white dressing gown, with her arms crossed over her chest. Not particularly happy at being interrupted, he made the mistake of answering her in an annoyed tone, "Isn't it obvious?"

She just leveled a flat stare at him before replying, "You just dragged the computer next to our bed and appear to be busy attaching an extremely strange helmet to it. What I want to know is _why?_"

She continued to watch as her red haired husband crawled out from under the computer table, then seat himself on the bed. He looked towards at her and said, "I'm trying something new today."

"Explain." Rin demanded.

He subconsciously raised his right hand and began to scratch the top of his head. "I'm not sure if you would be interested in hearing the details."

She pushed his hand away from his head and grabbed his hair with her own hand. She then forcefully turned his head so that she could look right at his face and into his eyes. "I'm interested now. Tell me."

With a bit of worry and a small stutter he replied, "It involves the computer and …"

Growing impatient after he trailed off into silence, Rin shouted at him, "Spit. It. Out."

"There's this new game that's going to be launched within the next 10 minutes and I really want to try it out." he finally answered.

She released his hair and looked at the ceiling as she recollected something, "Is this that Virtual Reality game you were talking about earlier? Hmm … what was it called again? Art something?"

"It's called _Sword Art Online_."

Rin fisted her open palm in realization, "Oh yeah! That name was also what caught your attention when you saw the newspaper advertisement two weeks ago, wasn't it?"

She nodded to herself, satisfied with the explanation. Her husband let out a long sigh. Rin turned to face him again and pointing towards the helmet asked, "So how does this work?"

He waved at the equipment with his left hand and answered, "It's very simple. Just connect the _NerveGear_ helmet to a computer with an internet connection, plug in an external power source and just wear it over your head while you lie down in bed."

"What happens then?"

"I'm not sure exactly how the science works, but basically it sends signals directly to your brain so that you would feel as if you were in another world."

"What about when you move? It would be really awkward to wave your arms or feet while on the bed."

"The _NerveGear_ helmet intercepts those signals and re-routes them into the game world instead. It's a pretty impressive system, come to think of it." answered her husband with amazement in his voice.

She looked at him in silence for some time before asking, "And why couldn't you just tell me all this when I asked you earlier? It would have saved the both of us time."

He scratched his cheek with his right hand and replied, "Well … I didn't expect you to accept it this easily. I mean you're usually not very good with computers …"

He didn't notice that her eyes had narrowed or that she was showing signs of being angry. Unwittingly he continued,

" … even though lately you've been doing our financial accounts on them, you still are a bit clumsy. So, I was really worried that you would freak out and …" he trailed off as he looked up to see that his wife had bared her teeth at him and was growling. Her black hair seemed to be rising off her shoulders and her eyes were glowing a dangerous fluorescent red. He gulped as he recalled that since their marriage began they had grown closer together, but his wife was still easily angered. The makeup sessions they did afterwards were probably the motivation for her increased aggressiveness.

With an angry voice she demanded, "Are you trying to tell me that I'm _unable to understand_ how _this stupid game works__?!_"

With an audible stutter he replied, "N-n-no! That's not i-it at all Rin!" spreading his palms out in front of his body while trying to pacify her.

Angrily, she grabbed him by the front of his shirt and threw him off the bed. She then picked up the NerveGear helmet from the table.

From the floor her red haired husband looked up with concern. "R-Rin? What are you doing?"

"I'm going to prove to you that I am most certainly capable of understanding computers by playing this game for a few hours!"

As she settled herself on the bed he came near and asked, "But what about dinner? You said that you wanted to cook tonight!"

She pointed to the bedroom door leading to the hallway and said, "I've changed my mind. You go make it instead! … Wait, how do you start this thing?"

Letting out a sigh he answered, "I've already configured it. You just need to lie down on the bed and say 'Link Start'. … But this is the day _Sword Art Online_ launches and I wanted to be among the first to play it!"

Puffing her impressive chest in front of him she replied, "Well then, you can be proud of the fact that your wife will be playing it for you instead! Think of it as a punishment for not giving me a clear answer earlier."

He tried complaining, "But -"

"I've made up my mind. Am I understood?" The tone of her voice did not encourage a difference of opinion.

"Yes dear", he replied in a sullen voice with a bent head.

"Good. Now go and get dinner ready. I'll join you when I'm done." she ordered and watched him leave their bedroom.

After he left she put the _NerveGear_ helmet over her head and said, "Link Start!". She grew impressed when all feeling of the room around her vanished as she entered the virtual world.

* * *

_**Starting City, Aincrad, Floor 01**_

Kirito blinked as he materialized in the middle of the plaza. Not wanting to waste time, he started running towards the west side of the city. He smiled as he ran past the familiar food stalls with the shopkeepers selling their wares. He waved towards a little girl who looked back at him from her window sill.

As he left the marketplace he heard a voice shout out from behind him, "Wait!"

Kirito stopped moving and turned around to see a thin man running up to him. The guy had messy purple hair that extended past his neck. He had a red bandana tied over his forehead and was wearing the cream colored variant of the starter clothes that were provided for new players.

The newcomer came and stood in front of Kirito. He bent his legs as he tried to catch his breath.

"Oh man, I've been calling you since the Plaza! Are your headphones broken or something?"

Kirito blinked in confusion on hearing the question. "Headphones?" he asked. "I don't think we can use those with the _NerveGear_ helmet over our heads"

The purple haired man just looked back at him with a blank expression over his face. He then blinked and quickly shook his head side-to-side on realizing his mistake. "I'm sorry. Still not used to this game yet."

He then paused and took a deep breath before speaking, "My name is Klein. What's yours?"

"I'm Kirito."

With a smile Klein commented, "You must have been part of the Beta Testing group, weren't you?"

Surprised, Kirito replied while nodding his head, "Yes, that's right. But how did you know?"

Klein deducted, "You ran as soon as you entered the game. It was as if you knew your way around already. Only way that could be possible is if you've played the game before. Since this is the very day the game was released, the only chance you could have got for that opportunity was during the Beta Testing period a month back!"

Kirito widened his eyes in amazement and exclaimed, "Wow! That's some impressive deduction."

Holding himself up with pride Klein responded, "Thank you!"

"I'm guessing that you must be some kind of detective or something?"

Still smiling Klein shook his head as he explained, "Sorry, but that's not it. I've just played too many games before. You always see the beta players running as soon as they log in on the opening day."

Kirito smiled back saying, "It's still impressive that you've played so much. This game - _Sword Art Online_ is the fourth MMO game I've played. And it's the first time I've ever been included as part of a Beta Testing group."

His companion then raised his right hand and began to scratch the side of his cheek. With a bit of hesitation he asked, "I just met you and this is crazy, but can you help me?"

Kirito stared at him in silence for some time. He then started chuckling. "Ha, ha, ha! It's been awhile since I've heard _that_."

Klein chucked a bit too and said, "I know. Still good, right?"

Getting his merriment under control Kirito raised one of his eyebrows and asked, "What do you need from me?"

Klein then clasped both his hands in front of his chest and asked in a pleading voice, "I just unwrapped the game 30 minutes ago and have no idea what to do! Can you please teach me the basics?"

* * *

_**Grass Field to the West of Starting City, Floor 01**_

"Why are we here?" asked a puzzled Klein as he looked around. He had followed Kirito and they were now standing in the middle of a grass field. There was nothing notable in the immediate vicinity but a little further to the north he saw the beginnings of a forest. Unlike in the city, it was quiet and he could hear a few insects chirping in the background.

"I like this place. It's quiet and the scenery's good." answered his more experienced friend. "Very unlikely that we would be disturbed here too."

"So … what now?" wondered Klein out loud.

Kirito looked up at the blue sky while he thought. There were a few clouds high up, but it didn't look as if it would rain. He turned back to his companion and asked, "Do you know how to work the inventory?"

Klein just shook his head. "Nope."

Kirito then brought his right hand in front of him and held it at shoulder level. "You bring your hand up like this and wave it downwards." he said while performing the action. A holographic menu popped up in front of him. At a glance, it looked like he had a hi-tech tablet floating in the air in front of his face, which heavily contrasted against his more rural surroundings.

Klein repeated the action. As he watched his own menu come up he said, "Yeah, doing that brings up my personal menu. Now what?"

With his finger Kirito scrolled through the different options and selected '_Character Status_'. The display changed and a picture of his avatar popped up with a lot of information written next to it. "This is how you check out your own profile." he explained.

"Ohhh... ! This looks very useful!" commented Klein as he looked himself over.

"Now a little to the bottom, you can see a few options. Select '_Equipment_' from there."

"Yeah, got it."

"You can tap the different stuff to equip or unequip yourself. For example …" as he trailed off Kirito clicked the options corresponding to his weapons and Klein watched as Kirito's armor and sword vanished.

"Hey! Why did you do that? You are as good as defenseless now!" said a worried Klein. Kirito was just wearing a plain full sleeved shirt that was blue in color and a brown pair of pants.

Kirito just smirked back and said, "Try removing just your armor too."

A bit hesitant over the change in Kirito's demeanor Klein followed the instructions and disarmed himself. As soon as his armor was off, the world went black.

* * *

_**Room of Resurrection, Starting **__**City, Floor**__** 01**_

Feeling a bit disoriented Klein opened his eyes to find himself lying down and staring at light coming down from the ceiling. He got up and saw that he was at the altar of a chapel.

"Where am I?" he asked no-one in particular while rubbing his head.

"This is the Room of Resurrection, my son." answered an old priest who was standing nearby. Klein jumped off the altar in surprise and fell on the floor.

"Ouch..." he whined as he got up. He was about the ask the priest another question when a white light glowed from the altar. A moment later, Kirito materialized on the spot.

Kirito looked around and asked, "Klein? Are you still here?"

Spotting his friend, he got off the altar and walked up to him. "There you are! How do you feel?" asked Kirito in a cheerful voice.

"My head has stopped spinning, but what just happened?"

With a smile Kirito answered with enthusiasm, "I killed you with a punch!"

Klein's eyes grew wide in shock. "Wh-What the HECK ?!"

Raising his finger to prove a point Kirito continued, "Since this is your first time playing _Sword Art Online_, I felt it best to demonstrate what happens to your avatar when you get killed. Better now than for you to waste time later while your team is fighting an important battle."

"Err..." replied Klein intelligently.

"It would be too bothersome walking all the way back here, so I stabbed myself to follow you here."

Klein just looked back at Kirito as if he had just heard something absolutely ridiculous.

After a few moments of awkward silence he commented, "You must be the weirdest guy I've ever met online."

Kirito blinked as he remembered something and said, "Also, you have my gratitude. Thanks to you, I've unlocked the '_Punch a person to death in an isolated area_' achievement."

With a flat stare Klein continued, " … and one of the most greediest too."

Kirito started walking out of the chapel and shouted back to his companion, "Come on! There's still more stuff I need to show you."

* * *

_**West Field, Starting City, Floor 01**_

"Now watch me closely. I'm going to demonstrate how to use a _Sword Skill_." said Kirito as he stood on the grassy field.

The blue haired player raised his sword high above his head in his right hand. He bent his knees and assumed a basic fighting stance. He then pulled the sword a bit back and it began to glow with a faint white light.

"_Reaver__!_" he shouted as he brought the sword down in an attack. As he got back to a more relaxed stance he heard his companion clapping.

"That was cool. How can I learn to do that?" asked Klein.

Kirito just looked back and raised one of his eyebrows. "It's a basic skill. Every player should have it. Just do exactly what I did and the _System Assist_ will kick it and move you along."

Klein nodded and took a similar stance. He pulled his curved sword back and swung it forward shouting, "Ahhh!"

It didn't feel as impressive as Kirito's demonstration and he whined about it.

After thinking on the problem for a few moments Kirito asked, "Hey, did you equip the skill on your avatar?"

Klein just blinked back and asking in a confused tone, "What are you talking about?"

His blue haired companion just brought his right palm to his forehead to let out a large sigh. "Here, I'll show you. Just open up your character menu and do this …"

A few moments later Klein took the same offensive stance and pulled back his sword. This time it began to glow too. He brought it down with a powerful shout, "_Reaver!_"

As he got up from the end of the attack, Klein's face grew a smile and he said, "THAT was Awesome! This game is worth every coin I spent on it."

Kirito picked up a pebble from the ground and idly tossed it up vertically into the air. He caught it as it fell down and pulled his hand back. The pebble began to glow a soft blue and he threw it towards a wild boar grazing nearby. "Now let's try it out on the real thing."

The wild boar gave a startled shout as it's rear end was hit by the pebble. It's health bar reduced a bit and it turned around to the face the people who disturbed it. Angry snorting could be heard coming from its nostrils.

"Klein, get ready." shouted Kirito as he ran and stood back so that Klein was positioned between him and the wild boar.

His purple haired companion narrowed his eyes and faced the wild boar. The animal began it's charge towards him. Klein took the same fighting stance, but before he could activate the attack the wild boar struck him and he went flying to the side.

"Ouch!" he complained as he got up. His health bar had reduced by one fourth.

"What are you doing? This is a fight! Get ready 'cause it's headed straight for you." warned his blue haired companion.

This time Klein was ready. He took the stance and raised his curved sword behind him. When the wild boar was in range, he pulled his right hand back and felt the sword glow like before. He brought it down on the wild boar with a big, "_Reaver!_"

This time the animal's health bar reduced to just 10 percent. "It's almost over! Strike again before it recovers." suggested Kirito.

"_Reaver!_"

Klein watched as the wild board disintegrated into thousands of pixels and vanished from the spot. In it's place stood a floating white orb.

"D-Did I get it?" the purple haired player asked hesitantly.

"Yep." replied Kirito.

"YEESS!" shouted Klein as he jumped into the air raising his fist.

Pointing to the orb with his right hand Kirito asked, "Aren't you going to collect your reward?"

With excitement Klein asked, "How do I do that?"

"It's like using an item. You just tap it with your finger. The menu will popup and you can select from the options present." came the reply.

Klein nodded and walked up to the floating white orb. He tapped it with the pointer finger on his right hand and a menu came out. He transferred the reward items to his inventory and watched the white orb disappear.

"This is going to be a pain, collecting the rewards individually for each of my kills." he commented.

Kirito nodded back to him saying, "It's annoying in the beginning. But when you get to level 3 there is a _Skill_ called '_Gather_' that will help you collect rewards from an entire area with just a single menu."

With a concerned look on his face Klein observed, "It's going to get difficult playing this game on the higher levels. Even accounting for the _Skill Slots_ that are locked out for me because of my low level, there aren't that many _Skill Slots_ available to begin with."

"Hmmm …" replied his companion. Kirito then picked up another pebble and held it behind his head. It began to glow a soft blue like last time and he threw it towards another wild boar grazing nearby. The animal's health bar went down a bit and it turned to charge at it's assailant.

Kirito was ready however. He positioned his left leg in front and held his left hand in front in a defensive position. He brought the curved sword in his right hand behind him and began to spin it in a circular arc. It began to glow a faint blue color and when the boar was close enough he charged forward, bringing the sword in front of him shouting, "_Linear!_"

Klein watched dumbfounded as the animal disintegrated. He looked back at Kirito who was sheathing his weapon. Amazed he said, "In just one strike! How … ?"

With a smile the blue haired player walked back to his companion explaining, "You do not need to equip any of the _Skills_ on your avatar to use them. If you know the stance and steps the attack uses, there is nothing stopping you from unleashing it without _System Assist_. As the name says - it's only to help you learn the attack. Using _System Assist_ also results in a 50% damage and experience penalty. That's why you needed to attack that wild boar so many times to kill it."

The purple haired player grinned back saying , "Wow. The more I learn about this game the more I'm falling in love with it!"

Kirito nodded back, "I know what you mean."

Looking at his not-optimal health bar Klein asked, "Hey Kirito, do you know how to cast the _Cure_ spell? I could use more HP."

Shaking his head the blue haired player replied, "You'll have to wait for a bit. They promised that the magic system will roll in a little later today."

Bringing his eyebrows closer together Klein asked, "What do you mean? I don't remember hearing anything like that."

"When the Beta was launched, a highlight of the game was the wide variety of _Sword Skills_ that a player could pull off. It didn't even have a magic system back then."

In shock Klein protested, "WHAT!? Were they crazy or something? Whoever heard of an RPG without magic? Or at least advanced science?"

Nodding his head Kirito continued, "Thats what a lot of us in the Beta Testing group, including myself complained about. As fun as it was, it felt like something was lacking."

He paused to catch his breath before continuing, "_Argus_ took the feedback seriously and Kayaba Akihiko himself, promised all of us in the Beta Testing group that the magic system would be rolled out on the official launch day."

* * *

_**Room of Resurrection, Starting City, Floor 01**_

Rin's head was spinning as she got up from the altar in the middle of the room. The Non Player Character (NPC) priest nearby greeted her by saying, "Welcome back to us child. I'm sure that you have grown wiser since your last visit which was 8 minutes and 36 seconds ago."

She noticed that she got a new message from _Cardinal_, the complex computer system that governed the virtual world. Curious, she pulled up her menu and opened it.

"Congratulations! You have unlocked the '_Die three times in the past twenty minutes_' achievement!"

She quickly deleted the message and left the _Room of Resurrection_ in a very bad mood. Unfortunately she was so upset that she didn't watch where she was going and bumped into someone's back throwing them both to the floor.

"Ooowwww!" complained a female voice from in front. Rin looked up and saw that she had bumped into another player. It was a female with long orange hair that spread out in all directions. She was sprawled out on the ground with her face rubbing the marble floor and her rear end sticking out in the air.

'How is it possible to fall down and end up in _that_ position?' Rin thought to herself. When it looked like the auburn haired player in front wasn't getting up anytime soon she spoke out loud, "Are you alright?"

That seemed to get her attention and with some awkward movement she was able to stand up. Rin bowed down apologetically and said, "I'm sorry for pushing you down like that. I wasn't looking where I was going."

The girl nodded and began to brush off some of the dust from herself. She was light skinned, had a white bra with a matching pair of panties. "It's fine. I didn't lose any HP, so I'm good."

Looking at her with a weird face Rin couldn't help but comment, "That's a very … _unique_ outfit you have on there."

Auburn-head replied with a small blush, "I'm sorry, but I'm really new to this game. My boyfriend convinced me to buy it and we agreed to meet up a little later. I thought that it would be a nice surprise for him if I spent some time exploring around first, but the character customization menu confused me and I ended up removing most of my clothes. Even worse was getting killed while I was like this …"

"You mean you actually made it outside the city?" questioned Rin with some surprise. "With an appearance like that, I'm more surprised that none of the male players tried to hit on you."

Nervously Auburn-head answered, "Actually, they did. And I've never made it outside the _Starting City_."

"What?"

"I was being chased by a few of the males. Well … more than just a few. They were all shouting things like 'party' and 'join me' that I got really scared. I tried to run away from them, but they chased me all over the residential district. There was a guard tower there which I thought I could hide in. No such luck. They still found me."

A bit worried about where this was going Rin asked, "What happened after that?"

"I didn't have much of a choice left. I climbed the tower. All the way to the top. The mob was still behind me and I noticed a wagon piled with hay on the ground. I thought I could jump into it and escape."

"And then?"

"Well I jumped, but the next thing I remember is waking up on the altar in the _Room of Resurrection_. Guess I must have missed."

Rin just stared at the girl with flat eyes. She didn't know what to make of her. It wouldn't be good to let her leave as she was, so she ordered, "Open up your menu."

Auburn-head was surprised at the request. She blinked her eyes and answered un-intelligently, "Wha-?"

Rin closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm trying to help you out here. Now open up your character menu!"

Eyes widening in surprise auburn-head moved her hand in front of her and saw the translucent menu pop up in front of her. "Yes!" she said.

Rin spent the next five minutes explaining how to equip clothes and equipment on. She was mildly surprised that the idiot in front of her hadn't removed her underwear as well.

Auburn-head was soon dressed in a white half-sleeved shirt and a pair of black pants. "Oh, thank you so much! I'm not sure what I would have done without your help!" she said in gratitude.

Lifting her chin with pride Rin just retorted back, "I didn't do it for you. It would have been an embarrassment for all of us women if you went around like that. I just enforced common decorum. That's all."

The smiling auburn-head responded, "Still, I'm very grateful for your enforcement then."

"Thank you very much …" she trailed off as she realised that she didn't know her savior's name nor had she introduced herself. Raising her eyebrows in surprise auburn-head said, "Oh dear! How rude of me not to introduce myself. My name is Taeko."

Nodding her head the player in front replied, "You can call me Rin."

Smiling Taeko bowed and said, "Well then, Thank you Very Much Rin!"

With a light blush on her cheeks Rin waved her hand in front of herself and responded, "That's enough! You don't need to keep thanking me like that."

"Have you played this game before Rin?"

"No, it's the first time I'm playing it."

"Well then, shall we play together?" asked Taeko.

"Pardon?" replied a confused Rin.

"We are both new to this game. It might be more fun if we explored around together, don't you think?" explained the auburn haired girl.

Rin wrapped her hands below her chest as she gave the idea some thought. Finally she answered, "Why not? I could use a meat-shield anyway."

"Ehhhh?!"

Rin grabbed the other girl's hand and dragged her off saying, "Come on then. First thing we need to do is find better equipment. I'm tired of getting resurrected all the time."

* * *

_**Market district, Starting City, Floor 01**_

Taeko was looking around very nervously. There were plenty of shops and the street was full of people. She heard a rooster cocking somewhere in the background and the sound a blacksmith's forge. Hesitantly she asked the player leading her, "W-What should we do now?"

Rin looked back with a flat expression and said, "We're looking to buy some weapons and armor! What else?"

The auburn haired girl brought up her right hand to her chin and mumbled something.

"What's that? I didn't hear you. Speak louder." Admonished her companion.

Taeko looked back at her with puppy-dog eyes and pulled Rin up closer to herself. She whispered into her ear, "I don't have any money with me."

With an incredulous expression Rin asked, "Are you sure you checked your inventory?"

Taeko nodded.

"Well … that's alright for today. I'll lend you some of my money. Just pay me back later, OK?" suggested Rin.

Not wanting to trouble her new found friend Taeko tugged on Rin's hand and pointed towards a flower shop.

"Why do you want to go there? We're not here to buy flowers."

Taeko shook her head and explained, "I don't want to trouble you for money. I was hoping we could do a small quest for that shop instead. With the money we earn, I'll be able to afford my own equipment."

Her companion looked back at her skeptically and said, "Isn't that contradictory? You need the money to go on a quest, but you need a quest to earn money. Try making sense for a change!"

Taeko let out a sigh and explained, "That's why I suggested the flower shop. See the big question mark floating above the store? It means that the shopkeeper has a quest he/she needs fulfilled. Since it's a flower shop, they would only ask us to go around collecting flowers. It's easy and I won't need to fight. Just a bit of simple exploration should be enough."

Rin decided to ignore her advice and just grabbed Taeko's arm. She then pulled her meat shield into a nearby weapons & armor shop.

* * *

_**North beach, Starting City, Floor 01**_

Taeko was staring at her reflection in the water. They bought a leather vest to cover her top and a pair of brown shoes with +1 Agility for her feet. She actually felt a bit faster moving around in them. She held a simple curved sword in her right hand and a round shield over her left arm.

"Did you find it yet?" asked Rin from a little distance away.

"No, the water looks empty to me." Taeko replied.

"Keep searching!"

Taeko felt that it was a boring task. After buying the armor she guessed that Rin would take her to one of the fields outside the city. She had heard that the wild boar in that area were considered a basic enemy and that most players would kill them as their first victory. She was surprised when Rin took her to the beach north of the city instead.

Her companion explained that the wild boar would obviously be too difficult for them to kill and that it would be best to go after some of the turtles that were found in this area. "Turtles are slow creatures and it will be easy to evade their attacks. It's a foolproof way of earning experience points for beginners like us!" was how Rin explained it.

The problem was that they had spent the past few minutes looking around the beach and not a single turtle had shown up. Taeko was just about to move off and search another location when she spotted something swim up to the shore.

"Rin!" she yelled pointing to the creature. "I think I've found one!"

She heard the water splashing as her companion ran up to her. She watched as Rin went beside the turtle. It was a HUGE monster that was about a meter in height. It's head was stretched out of it's shell and it was looking around the beach. It moved by slowly shaking it's flippers from side to side. Once her companion got in position, Taeko watched as Rin spun round and kicked the turtle so hard that it went flying out of the water and landed in a flower bed growing nearby.

CRASH!

"Taeko get it now while it's out of the water!" commanded Rin.

The auburn haired girl nodded and ran towards the beast. She raised her sword to attack it and the weapon began to glow a faint white light.

"_Reaver!_"

Taeko watched as the flipper she struck cut off from the beast and disintegrate into pixels. The turtle had only 3 limbs and 75% of its health left.

The turtle then lunged towards her, but she raised her shield in time and it bounced off. The shield didn't mitigate all the damage, but she was able to hold her ground and keep the monster occupied.

Rin stepped up behind the turtle and,

"_Reaver!_"

This time about half the monster's health reduced. "Good shot Rin!" praised Taeko. With a smile Rin replied, "Thanks, but it isn't over yet!"

The turtle had turned to face Rin this time and it opened it's mouth to spit something. Rin raised her shield and blocked the goo it spat out. She blinked in surprise as she watched her shield dissolve into nothing. Realizing what was going on she shouted as she stepped out of it's range, "Watch out! This thing has an acid attack!"

Taeko went up behind the monster and attempted another strike,

"_Reaver!_"

But she missed. She had tried attacking the same flipper which she cut off earlier and as it wasn't there anymore the turtle wasn't bothered by the assault. It was happy to find an opponent so close and turned its head towards her.

She blocked it's acid spit with her shield. However, her face fell as she watched the shield disappear. She was stunned on the spot and was spacing out when the turtle prepared it's next attack.

"Look out!" shouted Rin. It shook her out of her stupor and she was horrified to see that the monster was about to spit its next acid attack. There was no way she would be able to dodge it!

"_Speed Thrust!_"

Taeko wasn't sure how, but Rin lunged out with her dagger and using the attack managed to intercept the spit before it reached its target. As Rin stood between the turtle and Taeko, she quickly turned and tackled her companion out of the monster's range.

"What are you doing, spacing out like that?!" Rin said admonishing her companion.

"I - I'm sorry."

"Nevermind. We have bigger problems. It's going to be difficult to get near that turtle without any shields. … Hmmm … it's a long shot, but can I have your blade?" Rin asked.

"What about yours?" wondered Taeko.

"How do you think I just saved you from that earlier acid attack?"

"Oh … here's my blade" said Taeko as she gave Rin her blade. "But what are you going to do with it?"

Rin smiled as she accepted the weapon. She stood up and took a position similar to what a pitcher would take in the center of the baseball field. The main difference was that she was holding Taeko's blade in her right hand instead. In a quick and fluid motion she threw the blade towards the turtle.

Taeko watched in amazement as the blade flew with a small blueish light trailing behind it. The turtle was hit on the head and the blade disintegrated. She watched enthusiastically as its health reduced into the yellow zone, then the red zone … until it stopped.

Both of them looked on with disbelief as the turtle shrunk itself back into its shell. The most stunning part was that it had just the tiniest strand of HP remaining.

Twitching her eyes Rin grumbled, "You have got to be kidding me."

Taeko stepped a bit back as the air around Rin seemed to darken with her anger. A black flame seemed to envelope her companion and Taeko grew a bit worried.

Rin began to complain in a very upset tone,

"All that fighting …" She took a step towards the turtle.

"Losing our weapons and shields …" Taeko thought that Rin's footprints left a black impression on the sand as she walked towards the turtle.

"And instead of dieing, you hide in your STUPID shell ?!" Rin was right next to the turtle and her hair seemed to be blowing upwards by an invisible air current.

Taeko watched in fear as Rin just picked up the huge turtle _with her bare hands_ and threw it towards another flower bed growing beside some rocks nearby. The fauna was decimated, but the shell was still in one piece.

She then looked up and saw that the shock of the destruction had loosened some of the heavier rocks on top. She watched as they fell down and smash the turtle's shell, finally destroying the monster.

Rin sat down on the sand in relief as the two of them watched a translucent window popup in front of them showing how much experience and money the kill earned.

"That's it? After all that fighting, the reward we get is so little?" complained Rin as she observed the numbers come up.

An NPC fisherman walked up to Taeko and asked her, "Hello lass! What are you doing 'ere?"

Taeko turned and said, "Hello Mr. Fisherman. We just killed a monster turtle."

The fisherman raised one of his eyebrows and asked, "Eh? Issat right? Then where's your mace? Or 'ammer?"

Curious about the question, Rin asked, "What do you mean?"

Turning towards her he answered, "Everyone 'ound here knows that you need a mace or 'ammer to get rid of those monsters. Try attacking them with just about anything else and you will almost always end up losing your stuff."

He then turned and walked away while waving a goodbye at them with his left hand.

Taeko just looked back at Rin and watched her quietly for a few minutes. Suddenly Rin stood up, came to her and picked her off the sand as well. She then began to pull Taeko away from the beach.

"Wh-where are we going Rin?" asked Taeko with surprise.

Without turning to face her, though Taeko suspected that her companion had a small blush on her cheeks, Rin replied, "To earn money of course! We've lost our weapons and armor, so we need funds."

"But how can we do that?" Taeko asked again.

With a neutral voice Rin answered, "Back to the flower shop."

* * *

_**Market district, Starting City, Floor 01**_

"This looks simple enough. And it isn't even dangerous!" commented Taeko as she left the flower shop with Rin. Her companion was holding a parchment that the shopkeeper had given them. It was a map that listed the locations where a special Blue Flower grew. The shopkeeper had assured them that the locations were perfectly safe and that the only reason he didn't go to pick the flowers himself was because he needed to stay behind and attend customers in his shop.

Rin just hummed to herself as the two of them walked through the marketplace. After a few minutes she felt someone tugging her arm. She looked to the side and saw that her companion wanted to speak with her.

"What is it?" she asked plainly.

Taeko hesitated for a moment before answering, "Well, its just that … back on the beach when we were fighting the turtle …" she trailed off quietly.

"I remember. Anything in particular about that fight you want to discuss?"

"It's just that … after my shield was destroyed, you jumped in and attacked the turtle." Taeko said in a soft voice.

Rin just nodded and said, "Yes, you were totally useless back then! Spacing out like that is really a very bad idea, _especially_ in the middle of a fight."

Biting her lower lip Taeko looked back at Rin with determination in her eyes and continued, "I know I was useless, but if you hadn't jumped in I would have died. So .. so what I want to say is this - _Thank you_ for saving me."

Rin blushed a bit on hearing that. She quickly turned away from Taeko and replied, "Moron! It was more about being practical. I needed your blade to damage that monster and it would be very inconvenient for me to wait while you resurrected yourself."

Taeko watched with a smile as Rin began to walk away at a faster pace. She thought to herself, 'She's a good person.'

* * *

_**North beach, Starting City, Floor 01**_

Rin and Taeko just looked on with disbelief at the scene in front of them. They followed the map and it indicated that there was supposed to be a flower bed at the spot there were currently at. Unfortunately, all they could see were the remains of one.

"What happened here?" asked Rin aloud.

"It looks like someone smashed it." answered Taeko.

"I can see that, but _why?_ Is this some quest event or something?" pondered Rin.

With a frown Taeko replied, "Doubtful. I don't see any question marks or exclamation marks floating around here, so it can't be that. Still …"

Suddenly her eyes widened as she realized something, "Hey, isn't this where you kicked that turtle to when we first encountered it?"

A huge sweat drop appeared on Rin's head as she replied, "Oh yeah … I wanted to forget about that. When do you think the flower bed will respawn?"

Glancing towards the sky Taeko answered, "Probably a day or two. We'd better check out the next spot instead."

Nodding her head Rin replied, "That sounds good. Hmm... looks like the next spot is near here. Just behind those rocks there." She pointed towards a few gray rocks on the shoreline.

A few minutes of walking later the two of them were standing in front of another broken flower bed.

"Oh yeah!" commented Taeko. "Isn't this where we finally killed that turtle monster under a pile of rocks?"

Rin's eyes were twitching as she complained, "WHY is this happening to me?!"

Her companion patted her shoulder and said, "There, there. We still have other places to check out on that map, don't we? Let me have a look." She snatched the map off Rin's hand and studied it for awhile.

"Hmm... looks like the closest flower bed is to the south of the city."

"And that's on the other side of where we are now! For what did we come all the way out here for?" complained Rin as she let Taeko lead the two of them back towards the city.

* * *

_**Flower shop, Market district, Floor 01**_

"Here's your reward! Thanks a lot ladies." said the shopkeeper as he handed them a big bag full of coins. Rin and Taeko opened their inventory menus and shuffled the money around. They thanked the shopkeeper and exited the shop.

Rin let out a long sigh and said, "Finally! It's over. That was _way_ more troublesome than I ever expected."

With a smile Taeko replied, "Still, I had a lot of fun travelling with you."

"Yeah, it wasn't perfect, but it was fun."

"What do you want to do now?" asked Taeko.

After checking the time on her character menu Rin replied, "I've got about 5 more minutes before I need to log off. Think I'll buy some equipment and re-equip myself before that."

With a sad face Taeko whined, "You need to log off so soon? It's hardly been that long. I was hoping we could spend more time together. And I could even introduce you to my boyfriend."

Shaking her head Rin replied, "Perhaps another time. My husband is cooking dinner and he gets really annoyed if I make him wait for no good reason."

"You're married? WOW! We've been going steady for about 2 years now, but I'm not sure if my boyfriend will propose anytime soon." whined Taeko.

Quirking her eyebrows Rin replied, "Don't worry. I doubt if you're missing anything. My husband is an idiot."

Bringing up a hand to cover her mouth Taeko started giggling and said, "They are all like that, aren't they?"

Rin smiled back and waved her hand. "Good bye then! I'll see you again some other time."

"Good bye!" replied Taeko as she watched Rin disappear into the crowd. She then turned around and began to walk in a different direction. Looking at the sky she commented to herself, "I think I need to return to the main plaza. That's where Klein said we'd meet."

* * *

_**West Field, Starting City, Floor 01**_

"Oh man, I'm beat!" exclaimed Klein as he dropped down on the grass. He had spent a good portion of his time training with Kirito. They mostly killed wild boar, but it was not easy for Klein to get used to the combat system. Not that it was difficult either but it was one of those things that just got better with practise.

Kirito was standing and panting next to him with his hands on his knees. "I know what you mean. It get really exhilarating when more players participate in the fight."

They had started facing off against just a single wild boar but now Kirito was certain that Klein could easily handle two of the animals at once without his HP dropping to the yellow zone. Kirito himself was able to stand up to five of the beasts and still have about three-fourth of his HP on him.

" -pant- … -pant- … How … How did you get this good? It just doesn't seem fair." complained Klein.

With a smile Kirito answered, "One of the perks of being a part of the Beta Testing group. As a reward for all the feedback we gave them, they let us import the avatars we used when the game launched. They did take away all our money though, so that's why I still need to pit myself against these enemies with you."

Klein took a moment to catch his breath and when he was sufficiently relaxed he asked, "Why don't you just run ahead and fight the more advanced enemies instead? They should give you more loot too, right?"

Kirito sat down opposite to his companion. "Ahhh! It feels nice to be on the grass like this."

He turned to watch the setting sun and continued, "I'm only a few levels above you. My armor and weapon are exactly the same as yours too. It would be suicidal for me to go running ahead blindly. There is a good chance they might have changed a few things in the final game. I'm in no hurry, so I want to take my time exploring the world again."

Klein said, "Yeah, I know what you mean. The graphics are just fantastic aren't they? It looks so real and pretty! Right out of a fantasy movie or something. Though if I squint my eyes, I think I can see a few pixels."

The both of them spent a few minutes in silence watching the scenery. A few birds flew in the sky and noises of animals in the forest could be heard. After a few moments Kirito got up and said, "Well, it's time I went back to _Starting City_."

Puzzled Klein asked as he got up himself, "What do you mean?"

"It's almost time for me to _Log Off_. I need to help my sister with dinner."

"So why don't you just _Log Off_ from here? Why go all the way to _Starting City_?" queried Klein as he walked behind Kirito.

"It's how the system was designed to prevent malpractice. You can only _Log Off_ in certain _Safe Zones_ like the _Starting City_ or in a town or village. That way the problem of people disappearing in a fight doesn't happen."

"But what if someone forcefully or even accidentally disconnects from the system?"

"In those cases, your avatar will try to run towards the nearest _Safe Zone_ and automatically log out. The problem with that, is they become very vulnerable to monster attacks and thieves."

Klein exclaimed in surprise, "Wait, _theft_ is permitted in this game?"

Kirito nodded while answering, "It was implemented mid-way through the beta and I've seen the option come up when I was in town earlier."

"Option?"

Kirito stopped walking and faced a direction away from Klein. Out loud he said, "Perhaps a demonstration would work better. Stay behind me and crouch. Keep out of my line of sight."

Klein took a crouching position behind Kirito and said, "OK. Now what?"

"Try to be as silent as you can and come closer to me. When you are near enough, try using me as you would an item in this world."

"You mean to try tapping you?"

"Yes, that's right."

Kirito stood very still and kept looking away from the road. He had his hands folded in front of his chest and appeared to be in deep thought. Klein slowly crept up behind him. First the left foot forward, then the right foot. It took him a whole minute to get within arms reach of Kirito and he wasn't sure if he was really quiet either. The dirt on the ground seemed to make a huge 'CRUNCH' sound with each step he took.

Klein then raised his right hand and tapped Kirito's rear. A translucent menu popped up in front with said, "Pickpocket Success Rate: 03.52%". A question appeared below which asked if he wanted to continue or not. Klein shrugged his shoulders and pressed 'Yes'.

Before he could even blink, the menu turned a warning red color and he saw the words, 'FAILED' show up before Kirito turned around.

"And that's what I was talking about." the victim explained. Klein noticed a yellow menu appear in front of Kirito.

"What's that new menu in front of you?" he asked pointing towards the new menu floating in front of his companion.

With a smirk Kirito replied, "When you fail a pickpocket attempt, your victim gets the opportunity to report your misdeed. It leaves behind a permanent mark on your avatar that you cannot get rid of and you get labelled as a _Yellow_ player for a few days."

"EEhhh ?!" exclaimed Klein on hearing that he might be branded as a thief.

"Don't worry. I don't plan to report you." said Kirito as he cancelled the yellow menu. Klein let out the small breath that he was holding. Kirito continued, "… for this attempt."

Klein just frowned back at him. He then shook his head and said, "Man, this game sure is complicated."

"But it's a lot more fun to play now than in the beta." replied his companion. Kirito continued, "Take the pick-pocketing system for example - in the beta regardless of whether you were successful at stealing or not, anyone could peek at another's inventory before deciding if they wanted to risk stealing anything."

Klein blinked in confusion and asked, "What difference does that make?"

"For one thing, it's an invasion of personal space that you cannot report and for another, if a weak player found out that you had a valuable item or lots of money, he/she could have reported it to a much more talented thief and they would have split the stolen goods."

"Sounds like it would be really profitable to be a thief." commented Klein.

"It's very risky too. The more infamous you become, the more likely it becomes that the NPC Guards will try to arrest you on sight. You will be forced to spend time in jail as a punishment if you get caught."

"So thieves just have to sit in jail? That doesn't sound so bad …" trailed off Klein as he thought about the idea.

"You lose your levels the more time you spend in jail." pointed out his companion.

"Ouch! That doesn't seem like any fun. Is there any way to avoid the jail sentence?"

"If you have enough money, you could pay your way out. Or someone else could pay for your release. I've heard that it is possible to actually break out of the jail, but no one in the beta managed it."

Klein shook his head in worry and said, "This is getting depressing. Can you tell me about some other change that happened because of the beta?"

The two of them continued walking as Kirito thought about the question. His eyes widened as he remembered something and fisted his open palm saying, "The _Skill Menu_!"

Klein just looked back at him skeptically and asked, "What about the _Skill Menu_? It looks pretty vanilla to me. Just a normal menu that you can slide around to select options and stuff."

Kirito shook his head and explained, "It's like that because of the beta. Let me ask you something first, what do you use the _Skill Menu_ for?"

Klein looked at him oddly and answered, "The usual thing. When I level up, I want to allocate my experience points to whatever _Skills _or _Attributes_ I want improved. It's the same with just about any RPG."

"Exactly. And that's how many of us prefer it as well. But during the beta, they had this really cool looking interface. Instead of navigating a menu, you looked up at the night sky and manipulated the stars and constellations."

"That … sounds confusing."

Kirito shook his head and tried to clarify, "Each player had their own personal night sky. All the _Skills_ were represented as dim stars. When you leveled up, you just selected the star with the _Skill_ you wanted to improve and it would light up. If you focused on a single discipline, you could literally light up your own constellation. It was very pretty!"

"If it looked that hot, why did they remove it?"

"Because it was too cumbersome to use. Frankly, it was a real pain to search the night sky looking for the star you wanted to light up. There are so many skills that it was easy for players to unintentionally goof themselves up."

"Ouch! That must have been rough."

"And the worst part was that you could only access it at night. Which means even if you manage to level up two or four times during the day, you wouldn't be able to improve your character until nightfall."

Klein frowned and shook his head, "I'm glad they got rid of that system then."

"Well … it's not exactly completely removed." commented Kirito.

"What do you mean?"

Krito turned his head to his companion to explain, "It was really too attractive to just throw away. So now when it becomes night time, you can try searching the sky for constellations. They don't always appear but if you do find one, you might be able to gain a free _Skill _for yourself."

Klein then raised his hand in a stop sign towards Kirito and said, "Enough. As wonderful as the game is, I think I want to discover the rest of it on my own. This explanation while useful to know, is beginning to sound like an info-dump. Let's chat about something else."

Kirito chuckled and nodded his head. The two of them resumed their walk towards Starting City discussing more mundane things.

* * *

_**Starting City, Floor 01**_

As soon as the two of them entered the city Kirito turned to face his companion and said, "Looks like it's time for me to head back now."

Klein nodded and replied, "Yeah, take care now. Let's play again sometime!"

Opening up his menu Kirito agreed, "Sure!"

Klen watched as Kirito manipulated his personal menu. It looked like the options were so extensive that it confused even the beta testers. A few minutes later, it began to appear that something was wrong and Kirito's face had morphed into a frown. He was getting tense as well.

"Is something wrong, Kirito?"

"Yes, I can't find the _Logout_ option." he replied as he opened up two more screens in front of him.

Scratching his head with his left hand, Klein opened up his own menu with his right hand and looked around. It was just as Kirito said, the _Logout _option wasn't there on the main menu. He didn't see it written anywhere. He opened up one of the basic options and scrolled through it.

"What about this button?" he suggested. "It looks like a _Logout _picture or icon to me, but there's no text written next to it."

"Try pushing it." replied Kirito.

Klein tapped the option with his right pointer finger. The translucent rectangle glowed to show that it was activated but nothing happened.

"It doesn't seem to be doing anything."

"Exactly! Back when I was a part of the _Beta Testing Group_, that was how we logged out. At first, I thought that they moved the option to another menu, but I can't find it anywhere."

Klein looked up from his menu towards Kirito and did a double take. His companion had at least ten translucent windows open in front of him and was manipulating them effortlessly with both his hands. His eyes jumped from one screen to the next and back again. Klein had never seen anything like it and just stared at him in wonder.

"How are you able to keep track of what you are doing with so many windows open?"

"I'm trying to overload the system and forcefully eject myself out of the game. Back when we were doing the beta, someone got accidentally kicked out because of it."

"Oh …" trailed off Klein.

A few minutes later Kirito closed all his windows and let out a frustrated sigh. "It looks like a bug. Dammit!" he said as he shook himself with tension.

"Why don't you try sending a PM (Personal Message) to the admins?" suggested his companion.

"Good idea!" answered Kirito. Klein watched as the player in front reopen his options menu and typed in a message. Kirito pressed a button near the top of the screen to both send the message and dismiss the translucent window.

Kirito turned towards the purple haired player next to him and said, "Looks like I'm stuck here for a while. What should -"

But he was interrupted as the both of them got caught up in a blue sphere of light that seemed to spring up around them.

"What's going on?" asked Klein in a worried voice.

"Looks like a forced teleport. The admins must want to gather all the players somewhere." answered his companion. The two of them vanished as the spheres shrunk around and enveloped them.

* * *

_**Central plaza, Starting City, Floor 01**_

Kirito took stock of his surroundings as soon as he materialized. Klein phased in next to him. They were in the large plaza right in the middle of the _Starting City_. All around them were hundreds of players. People were still being teleported to the area and it was beginning to get crowded.

"Why were we brought here?" asked Klein as he looked around.

"Probably for an important system announcement. They did the same thing a few times back in the beta period too." answered Kirito feeling vaguely uncomfortable.

"Oh? What kind of messages did they announce?"

"Remember the pickpocket and theft system I showed you earlier? They announced it something like this. Everyone was teleported here and the admin's avatar would float above us announcing the news. Tutorial crystals were automatically placed in our inventories to learn the mechanics after it was over."

Pressing his lips in deep thought Klein asked, "But what could they want to announce now? It's still the opening day, isn't it?"

Kirito gave him a light punch on his shoulder. "Remember what I said earlier? About the magic system? I'm going to guess that it will be announced now. And hopefully they will issue some clarification about the _Logout_ issue as well. I had to endure an annoying headache for over an hour when my mother forcefully pulled the NerveGear helmet off my head during the beta."

Klein nodded back saying, "That doesn't sound nice. Hopefully they'll fix the issue soon."

The two heard the crowd talking around them making a lot of noise. There were a lot of people in the plaza and it looked like quite a few of them were unhappy about the _Logout _problem.

"Hey, what's that?" someone asked pointing to the sky. Everyone looked up.

High above the city a few clouds floated in the air. It was a nice blue sky but everyone knew that it also represented the bottom section of the floor above them. The virtual world they were in was called _Aincrad_. It was a huge castle that had 100 floors. There was only one staircase connecting each floor to the one above it and every floor had a boss at the staircase. To _clear_ a floor involved two steps. The first step was to defeat the boss at the staircase. Once that was taken care of, the teleportation crystal in the center of the next floor would open up. Someone would need to activate it and the floor would then be _cleared_. _Clearing_ a floor meant that anyone could freely navigate between the floors via the teleportation gates. Currently, only the starting floor was considered as _cleared_.

A few red specks began to appear in the sky. They soon multiplied and covered the entire sky. Some large yellow messages could be seen that read, 'WARNING' and 'SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT'.

"Kirito? Is this how announcements were done in the beta?"

Kirito felt his body go stiff with worry as he replied, "No, it's the first time I'm seeing anything like this."

A wind began to blow around the area and Kirito saw it condense on a point high above the center of the plaza. A whirlwind seemed to form there and it became darker as it gathered strength. It suddenly morphed into the structure of a person wearing a black cloak with a white hood over the face.

In spite of how worried he was Kirito couldn't help but comment, "It looks they _finally_ took heed of all the complaints we sent them during the beta."

Feeling a bit curious Klein turned towards Kirito and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Pointing to the huge figure floating above them he replied, "That's the cloak the admin used to wear when he gave out the announcements."

"So, you've seen this before …" trailed off Klein as he turned his head to look at his companion.

Looking at Klein straight in his eyes Kirito said, "Back then, the admin was in the cloak."

Klein blinked and looked back up. There was no one in the cloak and he could see darkness through it. He tried to image how the view might have been with the admin there.

He immediately shut his eyes and looked back at Kirito with fright, "Please tell me that he at least wore something else too!"

"Red polka dotted underwear and a mismatched pair of socks."

"Ugh! I can understand how that might have felt. What happened after you sent all the complaints?"

"A popular request was to replace the male admin avatar with that of a female avatar."

With a naughty smirk Klein replied, "Ohh... I can understand why that request was made."

"Unfortunately, they replaced the avatar with a female version." said Kirito in a sad voice.

Raising one of his eyebrows Klein asked, "You sound disappointed. What did they do? Censor the image?"

With regret on his face Kirito answered, "I wish they did."

"Huh?" asked Klein not understanding the problem. "Did the female players complain it was too sexist or something?"

Kirito looked at his companion straight in his eyes. He wore no emotion on his face as he said, "It was an over 100 year old female avatar."

Klein's eyes bulged out in shock and he covered his mouth with both his hands as the mental image struck him. "Oh. My. God."

Nodding his head sadly Kirito continued, "Be thankful you didn't see it today. I can never unsee that image in my entire life."

Shedding a few manly tears Klein bent his head and held Kirito's shoulder with his right hand. "I'm so sorry Kirito. I never realized that the beta players had to endure so much."

Pressing his lips Kirito nodded and said, "Lets be glad that it's just an empty cloak up there today."

The two of them turned back to the ominous figure in the sky.

The sleeves of the dark robe stretched out and they saw a pair of pure white gloves appear. There was nothing in the gloves either but they seemed to be attached to the the coak. The cloak held them out in a welcoming gesture and with a dark hollow voice said,

"Players, I welcome you all to my world."

A lot of whispers sprouted up among the people gathered in the plaza, "My world?" "Is he talking to us?" "Isn't this our world?"

"My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world."

After saying this, the cloak brought it's sleeves back down to its sides. Kirito felt his back grow stiff. Klein noticed it and asked, "What's wrong?"

He answered, "It's Akihiko-san. He's the designer of the _NerveGear_ system and the one responsible for making _Argus_ one of the lead gaming companies in the world today."

"Some of you must have noticed by now that the _Logout_ button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not bug, but rather a feature unique to Sword Art Online."

Kirito felt the hairs on the back of his neck shoot up as he felt worry grow inside him.

"Until you defeat the boss of this castle who gets unlocked when all 100 floors have been cleared, you cannot _Logout_ of your own free will."

Kirito felt his mind race. It didn't make sense. What was Kayaba Akihiko talking about? They were just playing a game afterall. His next statement unfortunately, made things very clear.

"The disruption or dismantling of NerveGear from outside is strictly forbidden. If anything of the such is attempted, the actuators on your NerveGear helmet will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all of your basic functions."

"H-He can't do that, can he?" asked Klein in a worried tone. "The _NerveGear_ helmet was approved by the national regulators for safety. There's no way they would allow a product with that kind of risk to be sold on the market, right?"

In a soft voice Kirito answered, "Unfortunately, I think he can. He designed the system after all. As for the regulators, they only ban the sale of products that have a high probability of accidentally killing a person. In spite of all the stabbings over the past few decades, they still allow the sale of kitchen knives, don't they? If Akihiko-san deliberately wanted to fry our brains for forcefully taking the _NerveGear_ helmet off, I think he could very well do it."

"But that's crazy! What if our family or friends on the outside just unplug the device? Without electrical power, we can still escape!" argued Klein.

Kirito shook his head. "Don't you remember? About 30% of the _NerveGear_ helmet's weight comes from it's internal battery. They advertised that it was a new kind of model that would not need to be replaced for over 8 years."

"To be a bit specific - disconnection from an external electrical supply for more than 10 minutes, being cut off from the _Cardinal System_ for more than an hour or any attempt to unlock, dismantle or destroy any of the _NerveGear_ helmets will result in the activation of the brain destruction sequence."

The cloak raised its right sleeve and held it's pure white glove out as if it was holding something on its palm. Around the white glove different screens starting popping up showing the front webpages of well-known news agencies.

"On that note, there have been some cases where friends or relatives from the outside have chosen to ignore the warnings. The result is that regretfully, 213 players have left this game and the real world … forever."

A few screams were heard from the plaza. Most of the players just stood in shock unable to comprehend what they were being told.

Klein just stepped back a step. His legs were shaking as he realized that 213 people had just died. He looked back at his companion and asked morbidly, "Please tell me that this is some kind of sick joke Kirito. Tell me that he did something similar to this in the beta too!?"

"Players there is no need to worry about the bodies you left on the other side. As of this moment, all major television and radio stations as well as every major internet news outlet are repeatedly reporting the situation - including the fact that there have been deaths. The danger of having your _NerveGear_ helmets being taken off has all but disappeared! In a few moments, all of your real bodies will be transported to hospitals and be given the best of treatment. So you can relax … and concentrate on beating the game."

Voices of complaint began to rise from the crowd gathered. They shouted, "What are you saying?" "This isn't a fun anymore!"

The cloak then raised its sleeves and gestured with its hands for silence. When the crowd had quieted down it lowered its sleeves and continued,

"But I ask all of you to understand that _Sword Art Online_ is no longer just a game. The information I am about to share with all you players will be a secret between ourselves which no one in the real world will know, until the game is cleared."

There was confusion among the crowd and they didn't understand what the cloak was trying to say.

"It was promised that we would implement a magic system on the opening day. I am happy to inform you all that this was the whole purpose behind the creation of _Sword Art Online_ - the magic system will be modelled as accurately as we can match how it works in the real world!"

Kirito was flabbergasted. What was Kayaba Akihiko trying to tell them?

"Magic exists in the real world. It is kept hidden by a few global organizations who seem to think that it must be hidden from the general populace. It is my hope that with the experiences you gain in this world you will be able to practise magic in the real world as well!"

Kirito grew very scared. Akihiko had gone mad! Magic in the real world? That was impossible! He shook himself with fear, concerned that the madman would kill them all the next minute.

"I have come to possess a certain artifact that I understand was used long ago to train magi. It will now be merged into the _Cardinal System_. BEHOLD!"

As the cloak shouted out, Kirito felt something inside him. He brought his hands to his chest and bent forward. Looking around it seemed that everyone else felt the same thing. It was not uncomfortable, but it was nauseating. It was as if his body was being ripped to shreds from the inside, but also like he was growing stronger. His legs felt as if they would give way any moment, but then they suddenly felt as if he could compete in a marathon.

Kirito closed his eyes as he felt pain erupt behind his eyes. Simultaneously it felt like his brain was working overtime. He felt his body develop a fever and it went back to normal. When he opened his eyes he got the next shock of his life.

The graphics in _Sword Art Online_ were among the best in the world. Everyone praised it for being so detailed. But now, it looked real. So Very REAL. Kirito took a breath and was surprised that he could actually smell the crowd. He blinked his eyes and looked around again. Everyone was so different. He couldn't even recognize anyone. He looked back at his hands and was stunned.

On his thumb, was a small cut. He had accidently cut himself that morning before _diving_ into the game. How was it possible for that small detail to be registered here? He raised his hand to his forehead and felt his face. He blinked a few times. It didn't feel like his avatar anymore. It felt like his actual face.

"Kirito? What happened to you?" asked a voice nearby.

Kirito turned towards the source of the question. He was wearing a familiar bandana and armor made of metal plates. But he no longer had long purple hair. Instead the person had spiky red hair. The face was also different. Instead of what he was used to seeing, what stared back at him was a man who had sunken eyes that shined back at him. The man had a hooked nose and a slight beard appeared on his cheeks and chin.

"Klein, is that you?"

The person with the bandana nodded back and said, "It's me … but what just happened? Everything looks so _real_ now. And your face, no your entire body looks different. Same clothes, but … what's going on here?"

"The _NerveGear_ helmet is more than a mere gaming device. It contains certain runes etched onto the inner layers of its circuit boards - undetectable by anyone who doesn't know where to look. Thanks to the improved _Cardinal System_ those runes have been activated. It is no longer just your brain that is fooled into believing you are in another world, but rather a significant part of your very soul has been pulled in here. In other words, finding yourself in a position with 0 HP will be fatal. We are no longer in a game, but a second reality itself!"

Everyone just looked back at the cloak in silence. It slowly continued,

"Thus there is no meaning in keeping your imaginary avatars anymore. You will continue with your actual appearances from now on. A tutorial crystal with a brief explanation of the magic system has been added to your inventories."

The sky was slowly beginning to return to it's former blue color. The ominous cloak was also beginning to disappear. Just before vanishing completely it said,

"Players - I wish you luck!"

The plaza exploded in confusion.

* * *

_**Central plaza north exit, Starting City, Floor 01**_

Kirito had grabbed Klein's hand a few moments after the cloak vanished and dragged him out of the central plaza. The two of them ran through a few streets and finally paused in an empty alleyway.

"Where are you taking me, Kirito?" asked Klein as he bent down to catch his breath.

In response, Kirito opened his menu and selected the Map option. A translucent image of the local area floated before the two players. Kirito pointed to a spot near the bottom of the map.

"We are here, in _Starting City_." he said.

He pointed towards a location a little above and explained, "This is the nearest village. There is a forest between the city and it."

Then he pointed towards the lower middle part of the map. "Here is the _Town of Beginnings_. We need to reach it as soon as possible before most of the other players start leaving this city." He drew a path from their current position on the map to their destination.

Klein held up his hand and asked, "Wait, wait. Why are we even leaving this city to begin with?"

Looking back at Klein's face Kirito said in a serious tone, "I'm not sure I want to believe all that was said in the plaza, but I've read a lot about Kayaba Akihiko. He's a genius physicist and a well-known gamer. If what was said back there was true, then the only way to survive in this world is to get stronger. The area around _Starting City_ will soon be hunted clean. If we get to the _Town of Beginnings_ before anyone else, we stand a much better chance of levelling up and making it out of this mess."

Klein looked to the side and spoke with a bit of hesitation, "Look Kirito, I know that you were a part of the Beta Testing group and probably know more about this game than me but …"

Kirito just looked back and asked, "But … what?"

After a sigh Klein continued, "I used to be a guild master in another game and made arrangements to meet some of my friends in this game."

He then opened up his main menu and showed Kirito his contacts list. "It looks like some of them logged in and are somewhere in this world. Probably back in the plaza. I can't abandon any of them."

Kirito brought his eyebrows closer and thought about the situation. He pulled up his personal statistics window and checked himself out. He had about 250 Health Points (HP). He knew how good Klein was at fighting. If it were just him, the two of them could have made it through on foot easily enough. But if more people were to join in, the risk would increase …

"Nevermind Kirito." Klein said with a smile and raised his hand to wave good bye. "You've taught me enough to get on by. Don't hold yourself back because of me. I cannot ask for more. Go on ahead."

Kirito looked back at his companion startled. "Klein …" he trailed off.

"I know how difficult it is to manage a team. We'll catch up with you later." said Klein as he turned and started walking back to the plaza.

Kirito watched as his former fighting companion took two steps away from him. He blinked when he realized something and shouted, "Klein, wait!"

Klein turned his head around and asked, "Huh, what is it?"

"How many?"

"What?"

"How many friends are you waiting for?" repeated Kirito.

Klein turned around fully and slowly answered, "Well … there's my girlfriend and three others. Total four people. Why did you ask?"

Kirito opened up his main menu and selected the virtual calculator. It hovered in its translucent window in front of him and he replied, "Including you and me that means six people, right?"

"Yes." answered Klein as he watched Kirito tap out a few calculations.

"With the kills we did earlier and the starting money your friends should have, we can rent a horse driven wagon for ourselves. It will be a lot faster than walking and we can talk as we ride. What do you think?" suggested the black haired player.

Klein blinked back at the shorter player in front of him. He smiled and replied, "Sure! That sounds like a great idea."

Kirito nodded and said, "Wonderful! Then gather your friends and meet me near the stables at the north exit of the city. I'll handle the travelling arrangements."

He then turned around and began running away from Klein. The latter shouted behind him, "How much more money will you need for the wagon?"

"About 1400 col!" came the answer as Kirito ran behind a turn. Klein smiled and ran back towards the plaza to gather his friends.

* * *

_**Residential district, Starting City, Floor 01**_

Rin narrowed her eyes as they adjusted to the sunlight streaming in through the window. Grumbling about how unfair it was for the sun to disturb her sleep even in a game she slowly picked herself up from the bed. She stood up and waved her right hand to open her main menu. Next she opened the character menu and selected something appropriate to wear for the day.

It had been a few days since the announcement. At first she couldn't believe the situation - someone was actually going to try and expose the existence of magecraft to the world? Was this Kayaba Akihiko person really that insane? There was no way any of the major thaumaturgical groups would permit that to happen.

At first she tried to meditate and free herself. All attempts ended in failure. No matter what technique she used, it seemed that the effects were limited to the virtual environment she was stuck in. Her immediate worry was to avoid getting killed. Considering that she was still alive, it must mean what Akihiko said was true - they truly were cut off from the real world and no one, except the players knew of his mad plan to expose the existence of magecraft.

She was confident in her conclusions because if it was even hinted as joke about a random plot to expose magecraft, none of the major thaumaturgical groups would wait for confirmation before destroying everything and anyone involved. It wasn't the best position to be in, but at least she was still alive.

Rin selected a white full sleeve blouse and a black knee length skirt to wear for the day. She tied her hair in her usual twintails style and left the room. She descended down the Inn she was staying in and entered the street.

She decided to spend some time observing how everyone responded to the situation. There were still a few players in denial while others seemed to be banding into groups to rush to the top. As noble a cause as that was, Rin felt that it was foolhardy to just blindly rush without even considering the consequences.

Speaking of consequences, she confirmed that death was real. A few hours after the announcement, some random player stood up on a podium and announced that he didn't believe that the threat of death was real. To prove it, he walked towards the edge of city and jumped down into the sky. The 'world' they were in was situated on a floating island. There were clouds all around, but no-one knew what would happen if you jumped off. Until that one idiot volunteered himself.

About two minutes after he jumped, those who were nearby heard a terrifying scream. Rin later went to the _Room of Resurrection_ to confirm his demise. The altar was no longer there and what replaced it was a very huge black stone tablet called the _Monument of Life_. All the players names were written on the tablet and whenever someone died their names would get struck out. Rin had asked the old NPC priest about recent deaths and he confirmed to her that someone had indeed died due to suicide by jumping off the world.

As she walked by a few houses, Rin began to consider what might have happened if she had not put on the _NerveGear_ helmet a few days ago. Would her husband have been the one to get stuck in this virtual world instead? She shook her head as she dismissed the thought. There was nothing to be gained by hypothesizing about the past.

'I am Rin Tohsaka and even if I am here against my will, _I will see it through to the end!_' she promised herself.

* * *

_To Be Continued …_

**If you've read this far, please leave a review!**


	2. Opening tutorial comes to a conclusion

**DISCLAIMER:** Fate/Stay Night belongs to the company Type-Moon. It was originally a Visual Novel developed by Kinoko Nasu. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara. It was originally written as a Light Novel. Other characters and settings belong to their respective owners. This story however, belongs to me. Feel free to redistribute this document as long as you give due credit. Please note, it has been written for noncommercial entertainment.

_Author's Note:  
_It is pleasantly surprising to see the response this story gathered. Wish my other fanfic would become as popular … (hint, hint).

A popular enquiry was about the protagonist of Fate/Stay Night, a.k.a. Rin's husband - will he be making additional appearances? A defining feature about his character is a certain reality-bending skill he posses. I cannot come to a satisfactory way (within Nasuverse conventions) to bring that into a virtual game world. Feel free to write up a story that shows me otherwise - I would really love to read it, if done well.

Speaking of the Nasuverse, according to source material Rin Tohsaka is horrible with modern-day electronics. If you consider Carnival Phantasm as canon, then the _NerveGear_ helmet should have exploded the moment she touched it. Obviously, I'm hand-waving this aside. In the grand scheme of things, it should be an acceptable compromise.

I find myself needing a much larger cast than provided by either SAO or FSN. Instead of creating a bunch of hard-to-remember original characters, extras will be borrowed from other genres. This helps me to mentally visualize the scenes as I type them. You will NOT need to know their canon background to enjoy the story (they are attributed below for egotistical reasons).

Some would say that it would make TO (Tohsaka Online) a mega-crossover, but from my perspective this is a fanfic of Sword Art Online (Novel 1 and side-stories) set in the world of Fate/Stay Night. It is within your rights to disagree.

On the matter of names - only the SAO cast will be using aliases. Everyone else will be using their real names. I _could_ use Kazuto instead of Kirito, but after watching the anime, Kirito is what sticks to my mind. Similar reasoning with Klein, Agil … etc.

I am _indebted_ to **LordsFire** (SB) for story-telling guidance and grammar checks. He doesn't just point out a mistake but _explains,_ in a meaningful way, why. People keep telling me that they find this story easy to read. Plot's mine, but storytelling his. Talk to him if you want to grow as an author.

**PhantomPhysicst **(SB) helped find and fix a few spelling mistakes that snuck into this chapter. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly how, but the following people have helped shape my thoughts on this story during the beta release of this chapter - **majorbau** (SB), **daniel_gudman** (BL), **nick012000** (BL) and **Tertium** (BL). You have my sincerest thanks.

_-chronodekar_  
(12/November/2012)

Guest Appearances_ (and shout-outs)_

Melchior from Chrono Trigger (SNES game)  
Xelloss from Slayers (anime series)  
Taeko Minazuki from Ai Yori Aoshi (anime)  
Konata Izumi from Lucky Star (anime)  
Keitaro Urashima from Love Hina (manga)  
Ultros from Final Fantasy 6 (SNES game)  
'Press Start Otaku!' by Lastofakind (fan fiction)  
'Rejoice Sachi!' by Fimbu1vetr (fan fiction)

_**Alternate Universe Story so far:**_  
Rin Tohsaka (magus) has found herself trapped (along with 10k players) in an online virtual reality game called Sword Art Online, where an in-game fatality translates into real world death. Everyone will be freed if the boss on top of castle _Aincrad_ (who appears when all 100 floors are cleared) is defeated. Kayaba Akihiko (game creator) claims that it is an elaborate attempt to reveal the existence of magecraft to the general public the moment everyone is released.

Last chapter saw Rin exploring _Starting City_, the initial location where players materialize. Kirito (another player) decided to travel to the _Town of Beginnings_ with Klein and his friends to level-up faster than anyone else.

* * *

Tohsaka Online  
=a _Fate/Stay Night_ and _Sword Art Online_ crossover fanfiction=  
(chapter - 02)

_Opening tutorial comes to a conclusion_

* * *

_**Open air restaurant, Starting City, Floor 01**_

Rin Tohsaka was enjoying her breakfast under a large umbrella; the café she decided to eat in had both indoor and outdoor tables. She was wearing a red blouse with a long black skirt, had her hair tied in her usual twintails style, and as she sipped the last of her tea, a male player approached her table.

"Good morning miss," he said politely. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

Rin looked up from her cup. The man was wearing a white T-shirt with a brown pair of pants, the triangle-like design over his leather chest armor indicating membership in a guild. She wondered if he was attempting to recruit her - It wasn't an uncommon occurrence. In the days following the death announcement, many players had come to the conclusion that there was strength in numbers, resulting in the formation of a large number of guilds.

The popular line of thinking was, the more members you had in your guild, the stronger it became; meaning it was more likely to survive dangerous fights. The unfortunate reality was that the players had a difficult time working with each other - guilds were getting disbanded almost as rapidly as they were being created.

"Certainly. I have some spare time," she replied curiously.

If her guess was right, then displaying eagerness would reduce her bargaining position. As she watched him close his eyes to take a deep breath, she recalled that there was another likely possibility.

"Will you please marry me?" he asked smoothly.

"I already have a devoted husband back in the real world." she replied curtly, getting up from the table. Rin walked away from the restaurant without looking back.

Her mouth bent into a frown as she stepped over the street. It wasn't the first time she had been proposed to since the game started, and it didn't look like it would be the last. There were all kinds of relationships that players could try out in SAO. Forming parties and guilds were among the more popular ones, but marriage between a male and female was permitted as well.

The first time it happened had been a shock for Rin. A random stranger just walked up to her on the street and proposed to her, as though he was engaging in a business transaction! Where was the romance in that? It was so different from the male behaviour she was used to before she married, that she spent a good ten minutes lecturing the moron on how to make a good impression.

The second time it happened, her mouth was dry and she had been unable to talk for long. So she took her shield in both hands and hit him over the head with it. Rin couldn't recall what she did to the third moron who thoughtlessly proposed to her, but by the fourth one she was getting exhausted from punishing them. She found that it was a lot easier to just say no and walk away.

Rin began to wonder if there were any benefits to marriage that she wasn't aware of; it didn't seem likely. The younger players probably saw it as a kind of status symbol, forgetting the commitment the instant they left the game. Granted she was unable leave, but it felt too similar to cheating for her taste - even if only in a video game.

As she looked about, Rin realized that she had walked round in a circle. She was right back on the street with the café where she had her breakfast. Frowning to herself, she stopped to consider her next move. Her eyes drifted towards an attractive girl who was eating at the exact spot she was in earlier. Rin watched with a feeling of déjà vu as the same idiot who proposed to her earlier, walk up to the girl.

To her astonishment, he suddenly turned and walked away without saying a word. Puzzled, Rin looked back to the girl in the café, admiring how effortlessly she was able to get rid of the potential suitor. Her eyes fell over the silver wedding ring on the girl's right hand.

She raised her own right hand, concentrating on her ringless finger. It easily explained why so many males kept proposing to her. Rin smiled as she turned a corner to head towards the nearest jewellery shop. She had no intention of get married to anyone in Aincrad - but there was nothing stopping her from pretending.

* * *

_**Jewellery store, Starting City, Floor 01**_

A bell rang above her head as Rin opened the door, walking into the jewellery shop. It was a small establishment, but well stocked with glass cases displaying the owner's wares. As a jewel collector herself, she found the exhibition lacking in style. Then again, she wasn't here for an expensive purchase. As far as she was concerned, even a fake ring would suffice as long as it gave off the impression that she was married.

"Excuse me?" she asked trying to grab the shopkeeper's attention.

The old man appeared to be well into his sixties, wearing a small pair of round black glasses, a light brown surcoat hanging over his white shirt. His white moustache twitched once as he turned to face his newest customer.

"Good morning madam," he greeted with a smile. "Welcome to my humble shop. What can old Melchior do for you today?"

"I'm looking for a wedding ring." answered Rin stepping up to the counter next to him.

"Not again …" complained the shopkeeper releasing a sigh.

He turned around and began searching through his glass cases. Rin raised her left eyebrow as she watched him pull out a few of them.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked with concern.

He placed the glass cases on the table next to her. She saw that they were filled with different kinds of wedding rings. Some were made of gold, others of silver and unless her eyes weren't deceiving her, the pair in the corner was made of ivory. All the ring-pairs had different inscriptions on them as well.

"Apologies for my lack of enthusiasm," he answered with a smaller smile. "But wedding rings are blessed and I am not allowed to accept anything in return."

"You mean I don't need to pay for my purchase?" asked Rin incredulously.

Melchior clapped his hands in front of his chest and grinned at her.

"Only for wedding rings," he answered, eyes twinkling. "Think of it as our way of celebrating the occasion."

Accepting his response, Rin looked down to the rings. Which one should she choose? The diamond-adorned pair looked far too fancy; the copper rings were boring; perhaps the one studded with green emeralds? In the end she decided on a simple gold ring - it had no special markings or stones embedded in it and worn on her right hand would be effective enough to drive away potential suitors.

"I will take this one," she decided, pointing to her chosen ring. "Can I put it on now?"

"No problem, my dear." nodded the old shopkeeper. "Here, I'll unlock that display for you."

Melchior waved his hand in front and opened the fluorescent _Game Menu_. He scrolled through the options, making a few selections. When Rin looked back down to the display case, the pair of gold rings had risen up and were waiting for her. She picked the one on the left and put it on her ring finger. Turning back to the shopkeeper she asked,

"May I examine the rest of your wares?"

* * *

_**10 minutes later**_

Melchior looked towards his shop entrance on hearing the bell above the door. Satisfied that the twin tailed girl would be alright by herself, he approached his next customer.

"Greetings good sir," he said with a smile. " And welcome to my humble shop. What can old Melchior do for you today?"

The tall man who just entered appeared to be in his late twenties. He was dark-skinned with matching brown eyes; bald, had a muscular build and grew a small brown goatee below his chin. His gaze settled on the shopkeeper on spotting him.

"My name is Agil," he answered in a deep voice. "And I need a wedding ring."

Melchior's face fell as he blinked back.

"Why do so many people want to get married today?" he whined.

"Excuse me?" came the confused reply.

The shopkeeper shook his head, adjusting his glasses.

"My apologies sir," he continued. "It's just that I'm not allowed to charge for wedding rings. Feel free to select your choice from the counter over there."

Relieved that the ring wouldn't cost him, Agil thanked the shopkeeper and walked up to the indicated counter. The first thing that caught his eye was a gold ring that was sitting on the very top.

"I'll take this one," he decided. "Can I wear it now?"

"That's fine sir," replied the shopkeeper. "Just let me unlock the display …"

Melchior trailed off widening his eyes. He watched in horror as the tall man put the ring over his finger before he could stop him.

The ring began to glow as soon as Agil put it on. A few seconds later it began to vibrate, emitting a small humming sound. He tried to remove the ring with his free hand, but it didn't come off. At the other end of the shop, the ring on Rin's finger began to glow and vibrate as well.

With both fascination and worry, Agil watched as a red thread emerge from his ring and float into the air. Blinking his eyes to focus, he realized that it wasn't an ordinary thread, but a stream of red light that pulsed with his heartbeat as it continued to grow out of the ring. The tip of the light thread slowly turned in the air, as if it was looking for something. It stopped when it saw a similar thread floating out of the ring worn by the girl standing on the other side of the shop.

It suddenly shot towards her as a similar thread from her ring shot towards him. Agil watched helplessly as the two threads tied a knot with each other when they met in the air. Without warning, the knotted thread burst in a shower of white glitter, covering the two of them with sparkles.

A message window with the word 'Congratulations!' popped in the air in front of the two players. It vanished quickly and was replaced with their respective character menus. Agil held his breath as the listing of his marital status blinked from 'single' to 'married'.

He had to cover his ears with his hands as the twin tailed girl screamed in rage.

* * *

_**5 minutes later**_

Melchior wiped off sweat from his forehead as he locked the front entrance. It felt like 5 hours had just passed, but both his customers were calm again. Or at least, as reasonably calm as they could be, given the circumstances.

Agil watched dispassionately as the shopkeeper picked a chair from behind one of the counters, drag it in front of the other two people in the store and sit down with a tired expression. He frowned as the shopkeeper began his explanation.

"Simply put - the two of you are officially married. That's what happens when a male and female simultaneously wear a pair of blessed wedding rings."

The twin tailed girl was glaring at the shopkeeper while he spoke. If looks could kill, Melchior was sure that he would have died at least three times by now.

"What kind of a system is _that?_" argued Rin. "I'm surprised that there haven't been reports of players forcing others into marriage, if wearing a ring was all it took!"

"Not just _any_ ring," corrected Melchior shaking his head. "It must be a pair of blessed wedding rings. And you can't use force. The rings are enchanted so that they impossible to use if either participant is unwilling or ignorant."

"Wouldn't that include the two of us?" pointed out Agil. "I didn't know that I would get married to a random stranger if I put on the ring."

The shopkeeper looked at the bald man with a sad face.

"The both of you came in here asking for wedding rings. I didn't even ask you to try them out. In fact, you both wore them of your own accord; which means you are _both_ knowledgeable and willing participants."

"But I already have a wife in the real world!" argued Agil.

"Bonds from another plane of existence do not matter here," explained the shopkeeper. "Even if it was accidental, you must accept each other."

"_Like hell I will!_" growled Agil glaring at Melchior. "I have a very beautiful wife back home and I do not want to take care of, let alone _accept_ someone else."

He took a small breath, turned his head towards the twin tailed girl and stated,

"No offence, but I've got someone else I love dearly."

"None taken," she replied.

Rin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It wouldn't do her any good to get upset in this situation; she wasn't interested in him either. Letting the air out, still keeping her eyes closed she took another deep breath. She needed to stay calm and think of a solution to the problem. Slowly opening her eyes she studied the shopkeeper's face.

"What about a divorce?" she asked. "Surely, there must be some way we can annul this … accident."

"Hmmm …" Melchior trailed off in thought.

He started stroking his white moustache with his right hand. It was an unusual situation. Most couples who married in his shop, were more interested in snogging each other than thinking about getting divorced.

"You would probably need to see a priest to conduct the ceremony," he answered her. "The only temple that has the authority to do so is the one dedicated to Zelas. It's located a short walk north of this city."

Rin looked back at Melchior with disbelief. Raising her left eyebrow she commented,

"Wait … you have ceremonies for divorce, but none for marriage?"

The shopkeeper looked back as if she had just asked something incredibly stupid.

"Of course!" he exclaimed. "Who would want to attend a long, boring ceremony? Divorces are the things that should be less appealing."

Rin let out a sigh, rubbing her forehead in her right hand. The situation was becoming complicated and tiresome. If the ceremony was really as boring as Melchior made it out to be, was it still worth getting a divorce?

She blinked her eyes as she realized something. Why was she getting so upset to begin with? Her so-called 'husband' clearly wasn't interested in her and she was officially married as far as the other players could tell. An ideal situation - ignoring the fact that she really _was_ married.

"Why don't we just leave things as they are?" she suggested to her 'husband,' "Since you are clearly not interested, we could just forget about this incident and go our separate ways. I don't mind how my marital status appears to other players."

Agil looked back at her as if she had just suggested something incredibly stupid. Again. Rin was starting to get annoyed with the experience.

"You mean you don't know what marriage means in this world?" he asked astounded. "It's a lot more involved that just a simple change on your character profile."

"Explain." Rin demanded; a feeling of uneasiness climbing up her back.

It was the shopkeeper who answered.

"Marriage is a beautiful event! In _Aincrad_, it means the complete bond between a male and female. Your health bars are no longer separate but fused into one. You inventories merge, with both having equal access to the shared space. Experience points get distributed in a -"

"Hold it!" demanded Rin raising her left palm. "What was that you said about my health bar?"

"Open your character menu." answered her 'husband'. "It will be easier if you see for yourself."

With a feeling of dread, Rin waved her right hand in front of her chest, activating the fluorescent _Game Menu_. She scrolled through the different options to select _Character Status_. Only, it wasn't just her personal status page anymore. There was a new addition to her name, the entry now reading 'Rin married to Agil'.

She assumed that it was the name of her 'husband' as she scanned the page.

The health bar was different now - it was nearly double its earlier size and there were two different sets of status information. One for her and the other for Agil. Eyes widening in shock, she dismissed the _Game Menu_.

"So if either of us falls in a random fight," she slowly began,

"The other will die too." finished Agil.

The two of them looked at each other.

" … "

After a few minutes of silence,

"We need to go to that temple immediately!" exclaimed Rin.

"I agree." nodded her 'husband'.

* * *

_**Path to Zelas Temple, Floor 01**_

"So why did you want a wedding ring?" asked Rin.

She was walking with Agil on a grass path north of Starting City. After getting directions from Melchior, the accidental couple equipped themselves and set off to _Zelas Temple_ at a brisk pace.

"I was getting tired of weaker players proposing to me," he answered. "If they saw a ring on my finger, I figured that they would leave me alone."

Agil was wearing a white unbuttoned shirt, black pair of pants, had leather chest armor with an axe strapped to his back.

"They want the combined health bar?" guessed Rin.

"Exactly," he nodded.

"They see some guy holding an axe," he continued. "And immediately come to the conclusion that he must be super strong - with health to spare. I don't mind helping others out, but I do not like being used."

He pulled out his axe as a wild dog approached them. The animal was black with blue eyes and two sharp fangs poking out of its mouth.

The animal charged towards Agil, snarling its muzzle. The axeman was quick; as soon as the beast was in range he swung his weapon shouting,

"_Reaver!_"

The animal didn't stand a chance. There was a reason why inexperienced girls wanted to marry the axeman - his muscles weren't just for show. With a single strike the dog's health dropped down to zero. It disintegrated into pixels, leaving behind a glowing white orb. Raising her opinion of him, Rin continued to watch as Agil lifted his hand towards the orb. As he collected his reward, she noticed that her own experience points increasing as well - even when she didn't participate in the fight.

"What about me?" asked Rin. "For all you know, I could have staged all this as an elaborate trap to marry you."

"Unlikely," he answered shaking his head sideways. "You are just about as upset as I am over the situation. Besides, I had a look at your character profile. Our levels are nearly the same, so it doesn't make sense for you to trap me like this."

He looked towards the sky, recollecting about the incident at the jewellery store. He felt strongly that something which should have been present was missing at the time.

"Speaking of which - what about you?" he asked. "You were looking for wedding rings too, but I don't remember seeing anyone else with you in the shop."

Rin held her dagger behind her as a wild boar blocked their way. She bent her legs, holding her left hand in front defensively.

"_Speed Thrust!_"

She ran ahead of the monster, cutting into it from the side. Most of it's health was depleted, but some still remained in the red zone. Agil ran forward, finishing it off with a simple swing.

"Same reason as you," she answered. "I've had more than my fair share of marriage proposals since the game started."

Fastening the axe on his back, he looked towards his companion,

"I can see why - you are an attractive one."

"Flirting with a married woman?" smirked Rin in his direction. "Tisk, tisk. What would your wife say?"

"She would give me some kind of horrible punishment." replied Agil jovially. "If I was flirting. And is that true? Are you really married in the real world?"

Catching sight of a building ahead of them, she narrowed her eyes.

"For almost a year now." Rin answered. "I can see the temple. With luck, we can get divorced within the hour."

* * *

_**Zelas Temple, Floor 01**_

The temple was impressive to look at from the outside. The architecture reminded Rin of the old Roman senate buildings. When she stepped inside however, she felt really odd. Even the interior looked like the Roman senate. Instead of an altar, at the very center was a podium surrounded by marble pews. It looked more like a place where political discussions would take place as opposed to a place of worship. Wondering if they were in the right place, she was startled when someone suddenly popped out from behind a pillar.

"Well, well, well," greeted the stranger as he walked up to them, "This is a pleasant surprise! I wasn't expecting visitors so soon."

He had purple hair that was cleanly cut above his eyebrows, though it extended past his ears down to his neck on the sides and back. He wore a yellow full-sleeve T-shirt, a black pair of pants, white gloves and a dark cape; the cape was attached at the center by some attractive red orbs. He even held a wooden staff that was decorated with a very shiny red jewel at its top.

"Nevertheless, welcome to Zelas Temple!" he continued. "I am Xelloss, her humble priest. What can I do for you?"

He spoke calmly, without a trace of malice; the tone of his voice however, hinted towards a hidden agenda. Even before she heard him, his very presence reminded Rin of another bothersome priest she was forced to deal with years ago.

"My name is Agil," said the axeman, introducing himself.

"And this is Rin," he waved his hand in her direction.

"We came here because we have a problem with our marriage," he finished looking back at the priest.

"Oh?" commented the priest raising his left eyebrow. "Whatever could be the problem? The two of you look fine to me. Are you not able to pleasure each other? I do believe I have an old copy of the Kama Sutra around here somewhere, or do you want a demonstration? It will cost -"

"NO!" shouted Rin glowing beet red. "We do not require any such assistance. Please do not make further suggestions."

The priest raised both his eyebrows in surprise. His guess was wrong? Then what could the couple want? Getting another idea, he waved his right hand in front raising his index finger in the air.

"I have it!" he exclaimed. "You are looking for a really _private_ room. I think I know of a sound-proof one in the -"

"NO!" interrupted Rin again. "Thats not it either. Please just hear us out for a moment …"

Agil decided to spare Rin further embarrassment.

"We got married by accident and need an immediate divorce," he explained.

"A divorce you say …" trailed off Xelloss as he raised his right hand, stroking the underside of his chin. Turning away from the couple, he walked towards the podium at the center of the room mumbling to himself. Raising his staff high above his head, a red light emerged from the orb on top and shot towards the podium. As soon as it reached the center, the light split apart forming a small map.

Rin recognized some of the locations indicated. At the south was _Starting City_, the beach she had been to earlier was labelled, as well as some of the more important locations in the area. The temple they were currently in was marked with a big 'X'. A little farther to the right, at the end of _River Chad_ was a location marked with an 'O'.

The priest turned back to the couple.

"Divorce is no simple affair, I'm afraid." he said sadly, shaking his head. "To undo the bonds of matrimony we will need a certain artifact."

"This is beginning to sound like a quest," commented Agil.

"Only with the ancient scriptures written in the _Clare Bible_ can we tear the two of you apart," the priest continued, ignoring the interruption.

"And where might we be able to find this _Clare Bible_?" Rin asked, deciding to humor the priest.

Xelloss smiled at her and raised his staff. This time a holographic image of Aincrad appeared in front of him. The bottom floor was glowing green while the rest of the structure was red.

"The exact location has been lost over the years, but I have reason to believe it is somewhere on _Floor-11_."

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Rin and Agil simultaneously.

"But you need not worry," continued the priest. "There should exist, a few copies on the lower floors as well."

"Will a copy of this artifact be enough?" queried Rin suspiciously.

"For your purposes, it will do." nodded Xelloss.

"So, I'm guessing that this will lead us to one of the copies." deduced Agil pointing to the map the priest projected earlier.

The purple haired priest smiled back at the axeman with his eyes closed.

"Excellent! You catch on quickly," he replied. "Allow me to take you part-way there."

He walked up to the couple and waved his cloak over them. The next moment, no one remained in the temple.

* * *

_**Near River Chad, Floor 01**_

Rin stared at her surroundings in shock. One minute they were in Zelas Temple and the next minute, they were standing next to a river along the edge of a forest.

"D-did you just teleport us here?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," the priest answered. "I'm afraid that this is as far as I can take you however. You will need to traverse the river on your own."

Agil looked at the river the priest pointed to. There were sharp rocks projecting out of the water at random intervals. The river seemed to curve off to the right, but from what he remembered of the map in the temple, there were many more curves ahead.

"You can't seriously expect us to swim all the way there, can you?!" exclaimed Agil looking at the priest in disbelief.

"Goodness, gracious!" commented Xelloss. "What an exhausting proposition. I don't think I've ever hear of anyone attempting to swim across river before …"

"Which means there must be a boat nearby," deduced Rin.

"Excellent reasoning Miss Rin!" agreed the priest. "If you walk up a little further, you should find someone willing to rent you a means of transportation."

"What I do not understand," she slowly said, "is _why_ you are helping us. It's unusual for a quest giver to actually bring us out like this. Normally we would just be given directions or instructions."

"I am afraid …" trailed off the priest as he took a few steps backwards into the shadows of the nearby trees.

Xelloss raised his right index finger to his lips; keeping his left eye closed, he looked back at the couple with his right eye and slowly continued,

"That is a secret!"

Before vanishing from the scene.

* * *

_**Near River Chad, Floor 01**_

"That was one creepy priest," commented Agil, frowning.

He was walking with Rin alongside the river in the direction pointed out by Xelloss. They hoped it wouldn't be too long before they came across the boat rental service.

"Never thought I'd meet another one who gives me the chills …" mumbled Rin next to him.

"What did you say?" asked Agil. "I didn't catch that."

"Forget it," she replied, as the two of them kept walking.

The axeman couldn't help but find the scenery attractively picturesque. There was a forest to his left, a clear river flowing on his right and few clouds in the sky. Turning to add his companion to the scenery, he spotting a large bee about to strike her.

"Duck!" he shouted raising his right hand.

Rin immediately threw herself to the ground. From the dirt, she turned her head backwards and saw Agil holding his right hand straight out in a fist. His pinky finger was extended in the the direction of a large bee that would have hit her, if it weren't for her dodge.

"_Fireball_," chanted the axeman, casting a spell.

Her eyes widened in shock as a magic circle formed around her companion's finger. A small fireball shot out, incinerating the bee. She looked back to his face and caught his eyes.

"Y-you just cast a spell!" Rin exclaimed. "How is that even possible?"

Agil stretched out his hand towards her. After she grabbed on, he pulled her back up to her feet.

"It's the basic _Fireball-1_ spell," explained the axeman. "Surely you should be able to do it as well?"

"But magic isn't supported in this world!" she argued.

"Don't you remember the death announcement?" he asked. "We were all given a tutorial about the newly introduced magic system."

"What tutorial?" puzzled Rin. She didn't remember any such thing.

Agil sighed. He swiped his hand in front of his chest, opening up his _Game Menu_. From there he scrolled to _Character Status,_ opening it up.

"It would take too long waiting for you to read the tutorial," he said. "So I'll give you a short introduction. Alright with you?"

"Go ahead," Rin encouraged him.

"This green bar here indicates our HP," he said pointing to fluorescent menu in front of him. "A little below, this blue bar represents our Od capacity."

"Od?" she asked, mildly surprised.

"Yep," he nodded. "Think of it as our personal magic capacity. Now a little to side here, is the list of spells we can cast using _System Assist_."

He swiped his finger to side revealing a new menu. _Fireball-1, Cure-1_ and _Ice-1_ were listed along with a number next to each of them.

"The numbers indicate the amount of Prana needed to cast the spell. That's part of what the magic circle does - it converts our Od into Prana."

"Hmm …" Rin trailed off, watching her companion navigate the menu.

"There's usually some magic in the environment around us - it's called Mana and can be used as an alternate source for Prana as well."

"So we can use either our personal Od or the environmental Mana to power a spell?"

"That's right," answered the axeman. "But you can't use only Mana for a spell. Every spell has a minimum Od requirement that must be met before it can be cast. For example, I can't cast _Ice-1_ right now, even with all the Mana surrounding us here."

She looked over his screen and saw a second, smaller number listed next to _Ice-1._ From his status screen, it was obvious that Agil didn't have enough Od to power the spell. Just casting _Fireball-1_ was enough to nearly deplete his reserves.

"What happens if you run out of Od?"

"That would mean trouble," answered Agil. "It isn't fatal, but enemy attacks become twice as damaging and you tire more quickly."

He swiped at his menu, opening up Rin's status page.

"It looks like you won't need to worry about it too much," he continued. "Judging by your profile here, you appear to be a natural mage. I'm surprised at how much Od you have - if you keep an eye on your regeneration rate, you could probably keep firing spells through an entire fight!"

Rin on the other hand, tuned him out. She furrowed her eyebrows, deep in thought. The magic system was not exactly how things worked in the real world, but it _was_ surprisingly accurate. Was Kayaba Akihiko really serious about exposing magecraft to the public? There were still too many holes in his mad plan; she felt that pieces of the puzzle were missing.

"Are we only allowed to cast spells present in that list?" she asked her axe-wielding companion.

"No," he replied. "The tutorial mentioned that anyone could create new spells - assuming they figure it out. Don't ask me how - I can't cast anything without _System Assist_."

Curious about how accurate the magic system was, Rin raised her right hand and pointed the index finger at a tree across the river. Concentrating the Od within her,

"_Gandr!_"

A small black curse shot out from her finger. It zoomed towards the tree, exploding on contact. When the smoke cleared, only a charred trunk remained. Impressed, Agil let out a wolf whistle.

"That's amazing!" he praised his companion. "You must be one heck of a gaming otaku to figure it out so fast."

"Err … yes," agreed Rin hesitantly. It was a lot better than the excuse she had thought up.

* * *

_**Town of Beginnings, Floor 01**_

"Wake up sir, we're here!"

Kirito heard a voice calling him; his body was being shaken as well. The blurry outline of a person appeared in his field of vision as he slowly opened his eyes. Shaking his head side-to-side, he blinked a few times to focus, recognizing the NPC cart driver calling him. Sitting up straight, he raised his right hand into the air, releasing a big yawn.

Looking around he recognized the horse-driven cart Klein rented. Speaking of whom, the redhead was still sleeping next to him. Deciding to release his friend from the chains of slumber, Kirito shook his friend's shoulder.

"Where are we?" asked his companion, sitting up.

"We're in the _Town of Beginnings_."

"How did I fall asleep?" wondered Klein, groggily scratching his bandana. "Did the others introduce themselves without me?"

"I'm supposed to be asking _you_ that question," came the irritated answer.

"Eh?"

"Did you really select the _leisure travel _option when you paid our fare?"

"Of course," nodded Klein. "Didn't I, ?" The latter part was addressed to the NPC cart driver who was standing nearby.

"Actually sir, you chose _snooze travel_ option," came the reply.

"What is that supposed mean?" queried Klein, adjusting his bandana.

"It means that we slept through the entire trip!" answered Kirito glaring at him.

"Whoops..." he trailed off, glancing to the side.

Kirito bent his head towards the ground and let out a sigh, shaking his head. Lifting his chin; he looked around, spotting an Inn.

"Forget it," said the black haired youth, pointing towards the Inn, "I'll go order some food for everyone. Can you wake the others up and meet me in there?"

"See you there."

* * *

_**Random Inn, Town of Beginnings, Floor 01**_

"So where is this new friend of yours, Klein?" asked Taeko.

When she entered the Inn with her boyfriend, the owner directed them to a large table laden with food. Everyone was seated, waiting for his mysterious friend to show up.

"Yes," commented a brown haired girl sitting in the corner across her. "It would be rude to start eating without him."

"This is a rare event," said a black haired male next to the brown haired girl. "You're _actually_ holding yourself from eating the food in front of you."

"I'm not a barbarian you know," admonished his female companion. "It's not nice of you to -"

"Sorry for the delay," apologized Kirito as he climbed down the stairs nearby. "But I really wanted to rent the top room for myself and was just pointing it out to the receptionist."

"You had me a bit worried - disappearing like that," said Klein. "Still, have a seat and we can begin the introductions."

Kirito sat on the corner chair offered to him. His bandana wearing friend was to his left and a lady with short brown hair and brown eyes sat across him. For some reason she seemed vaguely familiar.

Klein stood up and waved his right hand towards Kirito.

"Everyone," he began. "I want to introduce Kirito. He explained the game to me when I first logged in and was part of the Beta Testing group."

Kirito smiled and waved his right hand towards everyone at the table as Klein sat down.

"Kirito?" asked a blue haired girl from the opposite corner. "As in the only beta player who single-handedly defeated a mid-boss on floor-02 and reached the highest level, floor-16 during the beta period? _That_ Kirito?"

"Y-yes," he slowly replied. "But how do you know all that? Were you part of the Beta Testing group too?"

"Wow Klein," the girl said, addressing the bandana clad player, "Your luck is as incredible as ever! We've got a legend right next to us here."

The black haired boy sitting next to her caught Kirito's eye and answered,

"That's really impressive. And yes, we were part of the Beta Testing group too."

"Eh?!" exclaimed Klein. "You never told me any of that. I thought we would all be new to this game."

The black haired boy shrugged at Klein.

"It's not like we really played the game," he said. "The two of us never left _Starting City_ during the beta period."

"You know," interrupted Kirito. "I still don't know who you two are - even if you were part of the Beta group."

"Woops!" exclaimed the boy. "My name is Keitaro and I'm a second year university student."

"He's not just _any_ student you know," commented the blue haired girl next to him. "Keitaro here attends classes at Tokyo University!"

"Wow!" said Kirito looking up at Keitaro in admiration.

"And I'm Konata," continued the girl. "Second year as well."

Keitaro levelled his eyes and peeked at his companion from the side.

"Any special reason you forgot to mention that we're classmates?" he commented.

"Looks like everyone's my senior here," said Kirito. "I'm just a first year at Saitama College."

"Don't feel too bad Kirito," said the purple haired girl sitting left of Klein. "Age doesn't matter with us. If it did, we would have split up a long time ago."

Adjusting the thick framed glasses over her eyes; she smiled at him.

"My name is Taeko," she continued. "And I work as a maid. Thank you for looking after my Klein earlier. I know he can be a handful sometimes."

"Guess that just leaves me," said the short haired girl across Kirito. She puffed her chest and brought up her right hand up, poking herself with her thumb.

"You can call me Taiga," she proudly introduced herself. "And I work as a high school English teacher."

Kirito's eyes widened as he recognized the name. He realized why she looked so familiar.

"As in Taiga Fujimura?" he excitedly asked. "Three time winner of the junior women's kendo championship a few years ago? The Tiger of Fuyuki? _That_ Taiga?"

"You've heard of me?" she asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Heard of you?!" replied Kirito bemused. "My sister practically worships you. She's got posters of you in her bedroom."

"Sounds like you might practise a bit of kendo yourself," Taiga observed.

Embarrassed about the conversation returning to him, Kirito decided to change topic.

"I've been wondering for awhile now," he began. "And it's probably none of my business, but why are the two of you dressed like that?"

The question was addressed to Konata and Keitaro. Keitaro had a pair of daggers at his sides, a green hood folded behind his neck and a pair of glasses. What was unusual was rest of his outfit - it obviously belonged to a female thief and didn't look at all attractive on him.

Konata was a similar story. She was dressed like a male warrior with leather armor, but her look was a bit more tolerable - only because the clothes were too big for her and sagged to the side.

"We usually use opposite-gender avatars when we play games," explained Konata. "When the announcement forced everyone to reveal themselves, we got stuck like this."

"But that shouldn't be possible," countered Kirito. "The _Cardinal System_ prevents players from playing as the wrong gender."

"We were Beta players too, remember?" pointed out Keitaro. "That rule was only enforced with the game release. We just imported the avatars we used earlier, from the time when they didn't enforce the gender check."

"About that," began Kirito. "If you were in the Beta, why didn't you leave _Starting City_? Seems rather odd to me."

"Oh _that_ …" trailed off Konata waving her hand at him. She sat up straight and locked her hand with Keitaro's elbow.

"It's because we were busy getting married." she concluded.

Klein blinked at the blue haired girl.

"Eh..?" he wondered aloud. "That doesn't make sense."

"Oh _come on_ Klein," admonished Konata. "You know that in just about every other game, when the other players start flirting with Keitaro and me, we end up marrying just to shut them up?"

"Yes."

"Well this time instead of waiting for them to start pestering us, we decided to hold a grand wedding ceremony from the get-go instead!"

"Wait," interrupted Kirito. "Are you the couple who sent those wedding invitations to every other Beta player and organized that huge ceremony in the Temple?"

"That's us." answered Keitaro smiling.

"Oh, lets do that too Klein. It will be fun to hold a wedding ceremony!" Taeko suggested to her boyfriend.

"Don't bother," said Kirito looking at Taeko. "Theirs is the first and last _wedding_ ceremony that will ever be held in Aincrad."

"What do you mean?" asked Taiga curiously.

Kirito let out a long sigh, closing his eyes as he recollected.

"It was a huge ceremony - every Beta player must have attended it. And long - I mean _really_ long. It was excruciatingly painful, as we were unable to leave until it got over."

"What did the two of you do?" asked Taiga looking at the couple.

"Blocked the exits, hired a few choirs, three complete orchestras … that kind of thing." replied Konata.

Kirito sent a flat look at the couple.

"Everyone complained that they _never_ wanted to attend a wedding ceremony in _Aincrad_ ever again and the developers abolished them altogether. Now if anyone wants to get married, all you need to do is put on a pair of blessed wedding rings; which you can freely get from any jewellery store."

"That hardly seems romantic," whined Taeko.

"The story isn't over," continued Kirito. "The developers were unhappy that all the effort they put into making a wedding ceremony got wasted. To salvage the situation the divorce procedure was changed into a divorce ceremony."

"That just sound silly," commented Taiga.

"Nobody liked the idea of attending another ceremony. So as a compromise the developers turned divorces into limited-quantity quests."

"I'm confused," confessed Taeko.

"Simply put - it's easy to get married in _Aincrad_, but _very_ difficult to get a divorce," clarified Kirito.

Klein coughed loudly into his hand grabbing everyone's attention.

"As interesting as all this is, I believe we've gone off-track," he said. "We need to become stronger by leveling ourselves. Isn't that right, everyone?"

Everyone voiced their agreement.

"Good. Now Kirito tells me that this is a good town for experience. Any suggestions on how to proceed?"

The question was directed towards the most experienced player in their group; who coincidentally, was deep in thought, rubbing his chin with his right hand.

"Many of the townspeople here are quest givers," he explained. "And it shouldn't be difficult for two players working as a team to complete them. We should split ourselves into parties and scatter across the town."

"Sounds good to me." agreed Klein. "I guess Keitaro and Konata want to pair up?"

"We're married," answered Konata. "It's too risky for either of us to adventure without the other."

"And this time," said Taeko with determination in her eyes. "I'm coming with you Klein."

Taiga just smiling at Kirito, who nodded back.

* * *

_**Near River Chad, Floor 01**_

Rin was peacefully walking alongside Agil next to the riverside when _suddenly_, something jumped from behind the trees to block their path. Most of the monsters they had faced so far were shaped like animals with a few insect-inspired variations.

But the _creature_ who just appeared in front of them, was the first gelatinous monster they had ever encountered. Purple with horrible red eyes, it made sloshing sounds as it moved and possessed dangerous canine fangs; not one, two, or four, but at least ten disgustingly yellow teeth poked out from under its upper lip. Almost as tall as Rin, it used eight tentacles to move about.

They were facing some kind of sharp-toothed octopus.

"I think 'ladies first' would be the appropriate thing to say," began Agil, "but that would mean I intend to follow you - which I don't."

"Questionable chauvinistic traits," commented Rin. "Perhaps we could jump into the forest, and walk around it instead?"

Before he could respond, the sharp-toothed octopus lifted a tentacle to send a friendly wave in their direction.

"Hello there," greeted the creature. "Do either of you know where the boat rental service is around here?"

"Eh?" came the synchronized reply.

"I just checked in the forest," it pointed a tentacle in the direction it came from, "but couldn't find it."

"So it must be along the river, right?" it asked, pointing the same tentacle ahead of them.

The couple were too flabbergasted to respond. Remembering something he had forgotten, the purple octopus whacked itself with another tentacle, making a very gross sloshing sound.

"Where are my manners?" said the monster, chastising itself. "I'm _Ultros!_"

Denying them the chance to reply, Ultros just turned around and begin searching the riverside.

"There it is!" it exclaimed, using a tentacle to point towards a wooden structure located some distance ahead. "Now to destroy those boats …"

To Rin's amazement, the purple creature folded into itself like a flower in mid-bloom and _leapt_ towards the aforementioned structure - which it then proceeded to tear down in a very noisy fashion.

"We have to stop that squid," exclaimed Agil as he began running towards the mayhem, "before it destroys everything!"

"Right behind you," replied Rin as she followed behind him.

* * *

_**Boat Rental Agency, River Chad, Floor 01**_

Ultros didn't have any real reason to destroy the boat rental agency. It was through pure coincidence, that he had even heard about its existence. Being the kind of octopus that he was, Ultros decided that in the name of public safety, he had to inspect the rental agency and check to see if had been built to withstand random meteor strikes.

So far, the results of his building inspection were abysmal. Most of the boats didn't even last against one of his tentacles; notable exception being the wooden shack which required five hits before falling to rubble. Feeling the need for some variety, Ultros raised two of his tentacles in the air, ready to strike down another boat when the aforementioned limbs unexpectedly caught fire.

"Ouch!" he cried as he quickly pushed the burning tentacles into his mouth. Looking around he spotted the couple he met earlier. The man was running up to him with anger on the face and axe raised above the head in both hands. The girl was a little behind, pointing her right index finger at him. Did she just cast a spell?

"Hey that's dangerous," said the octopus, dodging the axeman's opening strike with a quick leap to the side.

"What about you?" retorted Agil, pulling his axe out of the wooden floor. "Needlessly destroying things!"

"Needlessly?" questioned the surprised octopus. "I'll have you know that I'm conducting a very important inspection right now."

"Inspection?" skeptically asked Rin as she walked closer, "For what?"

"Against …" trailed off Ultros, forgetting about the meteor strike as he wilted under her angry stare.

"Against termites!" he finished proudly, puffing himself.

Responding maturely to the answer, Agil chopped off one of his tentacles.

"OWWW!" screamed the octopus, jumping away from the axeman.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Ultros concentrated. Rin hoped that it would explode, watching as the sharp-toothed octopus began shaking violently. Her prayers were partly answered as something _did_ explode; in a matter of seconds, the octopus _grew_ a new tentacle perfectly replacing the one it lost, spraying little droplets of slime all over the place, in the process.

Not enthusiastic about touching the airborne slime, Rin jumped to the right, dodging the spray. Without waiting a single moment, Ultros leapt behind her, and raised three tentacles into the air.

"I've got you now," he shouted with glee, baring his yellow teeth.

"Think again," came the reply as she fired four small _Gandr _spells towards his face.

The slime over his body nullified all the spells, but the impact was enough to stun the octopus for a few seconds. Rin grabbed the opportunity and ran away from Ultros, moving outside her opponent's melee attack range.

Ultros wasn't going to let her escape easily. Running with her back in his direction, Rin didn't see him recover, or see the next tentacle he pointed to her. Black ink shot out of it, hitting her in the center of her back.

"Ahhh!" she screamed as the force of the shot hurled her off the docks, and into the navigation wheel of a sinking sailboat.

"That will teach you to mess with me, ULTROS!" boasted the octopus watching her ink-covered back, as she lost consciousness.

Alarmed at witnessing Rin get knocked out, Agil dropped his axe and started running towards the sailboat she was in; planning to carry her to out to safety. Dodging another tentacle strike from the octopus, he was almost at the sailboat when his opponent decided to change fighting tactics.

"You're not going to escape that easily," warned Ultros, extending all his eight tentacles outwards from his center.

He leapt towards the axeman, slowly spinning anti-clockwise. Agil didn't like his options. The two of them were heavily wounded, thanks to the attack Rin had taken. In addition, if he also took a hit from any of the spinning tentacles, death would be unavoidable.

With combat-sparked inspiration, Agil stretched his hands out in front of himself as Ultros charged. The moment he got close enough, the axeman quickly grabbed one of the spinning tentacles in both hands; using the momentum of his opponent's attack, he spun in place, reversing the attack.

"Let me go!" screamed the octopus, growing dizzy as Agil continued spinning him around; his blood rushing to his head and making him sick.

"Gladly," answered Agil as he threw purple monster high in the air, watching it sail far into the forest. He slowly released the breath he was holding, realizing that Ultros wouldn't be able to return any time soon.

"I can't believe you did that," commented Rin as she walked up to her companion, dragging the axe he had dropped behind her.

"Wait, how are you conscious?" protested Agil, accepting the axe she handed him, "I saw him knock you out!"

"It takes a lot more than _that_ to keep me down," she proudly answered. "I woke just in time to see you spin and throw that thing. What on earth, possessed you to even try something so reckless?!"

"I'm not really sure myself," he replied, shaking his head as Rin cast a few healing spells over herself. Agil watched their combined health bar fill up. After she finished, the pair began searching through the wreckage for a boat which was still river-worthy.

* * *

_**Town of Beginnings, Floor 01**_

"You must be really good at this game," commented Taiga, as she walked beside her companion. She was wearing a white kendogi over her chest with a dark blue hakama tied over her legs.

"I'm very passionate about it," answered Kirito as he led them to a cottage on the edge of town, which had an exclamation mark floating above.

"What was the most successful tactic you used during the Beta?" asked Taiga.

"Try, try, try again till you succeed," he replied with a weak smile. "Obviously, it won't work anymore as a fatality is permanent now."

Knocking twice on the front door, he entered the cottage with Taiga behind him. A young girl was lying on a bed nearby. She looked frail, was sweating and had dark shadows under her eyes. A middle-aged woman; obviously her mother, sat on a stool next to the bed. She turned her head towards the pair as they walked in.

"Kind strangers, will you please help me out?" she pleaded. "My daughter is sick and only medicine made from a herb growing in the forest nearby can save her. I'm too worried to leave my little girl alone and can't collect it by myself."

"No problem," said Kirito, "we should be able to handle that."

"Of course!" agreed his companion, "we'll gladly keep your daughter company while you go gather the herb."

Silence reigned in the cottage for a few moments, making Taiga feel very uncomfortable.

"What my friend means," corrected Kirito, "is that we'll gladly let _you_ keep your daughter's company while _we_ gather the herb. Do you know exactly where we can find it?"

Collecting a map from the mother, he walked out of the cottage dragging a confused Taiga behind him.

* * *

_**River Chad, Floor 01**_

"Duck!" warned Rin.

She watched as her companion threw himself flat on the wooden floor. A monster-fish flew over the spot where his head was a moment earlier. The two of them were sailing through _River Chad_ aboard the only boat they could get their hands on.

To call it a boat was stretching definitions. 'Raft' would be a more appropriate description. After spending an hour digging through the damaged remains of the Boat Rental Agency, they came to the unfortunate conclusion that there weren't any boats they could use.

That wasn't to say that no boats survived, to the contrary at least 3 large sailboats did make it through the destruction, but they were so big that without a supporting crew, the pair didn't dare to use them.

Which left only one other choice - to build their own. 14 thick wooden planks were used as the base. From the destroyed boats, they found a small mast which they affixed vertically in the center of their 'vessel', supporting a sail. The final piece was a rudder, which they salvaged from another sailboat.

Agil stood at the back next to the rudder, while Rin was near the center, in front of the sail. As they drifted along the river, she would shout out instructions and he adjusted the rudder accordingly.

The river was fast, non-linear, with random rocks sticking out of the water surface; which would cause a disaster if they crashed into them. With many twists and turns, it was very difficult navigating the river, that Rin often had to consult a map to ensure that they were heading in the right direction.

The fish didn't help either. The first time one appeared, Rin almost lost a finger. After the incident, she would mercilessly fire _Gandr_ spells at the monster-fish, disintegrating them instantly. It didn't stop the other monster-fish from trying to kill them, but gave her a good avenue for stress relief.

Looking up, she saw that the river would soon branch off in three different directions. Consulting her map, she decided that they they needed to take the rightmost branch. A task made all the more difficult thanks to the presence of a large rock which blocked half the path.

"Get ready," she warned her companion. "I'm going to try casting a more powerful spell. We need to the take the right side."

Rin raised her right index finger, pointing it at the troublesome rock. Narrowing her eyes on the rock, she concentrated. A magic circle appeared around her finger tip. Black sparks began to leak out of the finger and a second circle emerged in front of the first. It slowly spun anti-clockwise, the runes on its edge becoming a blur as it gained momentum.

"_Gandr!_"

Instead of a straight line, the black curse shot out in a helical spiral as it whirled towards the rock, shattering it on contact and throwing small debris everywhere.

"Nice work," complemented Agil as they passed over the remains of the rock.

* * *

_**Western Forest, Town of Beginnings, Floor 01**_

Kirito had hoped that they would face a simple opponent before the more troublesome ones started appearing. It would have given him the opportunity to study Taiga's fighting style; while he knew that she was an excellent kendoist, he wasn't sure how that translated in _Sword Art Online_.

To his disappointment, they were first approached by a pack of monsters; which consisted of a large black wolf, followed by two smaller purple dogs. Frowning at the enemy, he considered his options.

"I can probably take that big one by myself," said Taiga, interrupting his thoughts. "But those other two would have an easy shot at me if I rushed ahead."

"That's an interesting coincidence," replied Kirito. "It was the black one who worried me."

"If I lead the big one away," she suggested, "can you take care of the rest?"

"Sounds good," he replied, holding his sword out in front.

Bending down, Taiga picked up a pebble. Running to the left, she tossed the stone at the black wolf, hitting him right between his eyes.

"Come on and get me!" challenged Taiga, sticking her tongue out at the beast. It growled in response and charged towards her.

The two purple dogs were about to follow their leader when,

"_Linear!_"

Kirito ran beside them, leaving a red cut on both their sides. Deciding to address the immediate threat, they turned round to attack him.

Running towards an opponent was a kendo tactic she was familiar with. Smiling, Taiga raised the katana she wielded and ran towards the wolf. It glared back, bering its sharp fangs at her. If this had been a kendo competition; she would have struck her opponent's shoulder, ending the match. But it wasn't a kendo competition, her opponent wouldn't stop with a single hit; the animal would undoubtedly continue attacking till she was no more.

Thus Taiga was fully aware that she couldn't treat the fight like a regulated match. At the last minute she shifted her body weight to the left side, running past the wolf - slicing his side with her katana.

The animal howled in pain as it ran past her. Much quicker than she anticipated, it turned around and charged at her, much like a bull in a bullfight. She turned to respond, but wasn't fast enough. The black animal rammed into her right side, knocking her to the ground.

Sitting up, she noticed that her health had dropped to about 90% because of the attack. It would have been worse, had she let the wolf ram into her back. Not one to ignore the enemy, she looked back to see the wolf high in the air with his jaw aimed at her neck.

There wasn't time to move out of the way, and for most people it would have been the end; as kendo practise didn't train for such occasions. Taiga was different however - her relatives had strong connections to the underground and she knew a thing or two about thinking on her feet.

She bent forward, katana in both hands and held it vertically. She instinctively thrust it forward as the black animal landed, piercing its heart. It burst into non-existence with pixels showering around her. Relieved at her victory, she turned to see how her companion was doing.

Kirito frowned as he saw that the first engagement resulted in lowering his health to 80%. The dogs weren't in front of him either. One was to his left and the other on his right. Pincered, he didn't really have too many options. But he did know one thing - standing and waiting for the enemy attack would be fatal.

Deciding quickly, he turned left and ran towards the purple dog, sword held at his right side. The animal was down to 40% of it's health and a single strike would be more than enough to finish it. He grinned as the dog charged towards him - with them running towards each other, the animal's own momentum would add damage to his sword thrust, ensuring it's defeat.

When he was close enough, Kirito thrust the sword with his right hand aiming for the spot between the dog's eyes. His target unfortunately, decided to jump at the last moment, resulting in Kirito thrusting the sword, along with half his hand into the dog's snarling mouth.

The strike reduced the animal's health to zero, but he was more worried about the dog behind him. It would take a few seconds for the dog in front to disintegrate, during which his right hand was stuck halfway into it's mouth.

Kirito frowned as he heard the second dog leap into the air behind him. He couldn't see his opponent, but there were only one direction from which that attack could be made into his blind spot. Left hand bent over his left shoulder and pointing the index finger where he guessed the dog to be, Kirito launched four _Fireballs_. The pixel shower that followed told him the result.

"You certainly _are_ something," commented Taiga as she walked up to him.

Standing up, he turned his head towards her.

"And you definitely know how to take care of yourself," he replied complimenting her. "Shall we wrap this up quickly?"

* * *

_**River Chad, Floor 1**_

"Are we there yet?" complained Agil from the rudder.

Rin blinked, turned and stared at him for a few minutes.

"What are you, a three-year old?" she asked shaking her head. "We'll be there soon enough."

"Eh … ?" trailed off Agil, puzzled about how he upset her.

As they passed under an overhanging tree, an old acquaintance dropped in.

"Hello!" sneered Ultros, "Bet you two are glad to see me, right? Because I haven't forgotten what happened the _last_ time."

And without further banter, he swung a tentacle at Rin. She ducked and ran behind the sail. Agil released his hold on the rudder and ran to support her. However, the waters were fast, resulting in their boat spinning round. He quickly grabbed the rudder, reorienting the boat as Ultros moved around the sail.

"You got lucky last time," he spoke. "But I have the advantage this round."

He swung another tentacle at Rin, who ducked out of range. Instead he hit the main mast, breaking off the sail.

"Rin!" ordered Agil, "Don't let go of the mast."

Only a stump of the mast remained on their boat, but she quickly grabbed hold of it. Releasing the rudder, Agil pulled out his axe. Taking advantage of the momentum on their spinning boat, he hit the octopus on its side, pushing it to the edge. Quickly grabbing the rudder, he re-stabilised the boat.

"Hey, watch it!" screamed the sharp-toothed octopus. "It's dangerous doing that."

It was a long shot, but witnessing their uninvited guest as he looked at the water with worry, gave Rin an idea. Still holding the mast-stump in her left hand, she pointed her right index finger at the purple monster.

"_Ice!" "Ice!" "Ice!" _

The first ice blast caught Ultros on his right side, pushing him back. He managed to swat away the second blast with a tentacle, but the third hit him right on his center, ejecting him from the boat.

"Ahhh!" he screamed, splashing in the river, "I hate the water!"

Rin took pity, by firing two _Gandr_ spells at his panicking face. She and Agil sighed out in relief as they watched him sink.

* * *

_**Western Forest, Town of Beginnings, Floor 01**_

Kirito frowned as he peeked from behind a tree. In the clearing ahead, was the herb they were looking for; exactly where the sick girl's mother told them it would be. The problem was that it was surrounded by a glowing red forcefield.

"Kirito?" asked Taiga, standing behind him, "Why is the herb glowing like that?"

"It's not the herb that's glowing," he corrected. "But a forcefield around it that's creating the glow."

"More importantly," he continued, "The forcefield is an _unbreakable object_."

"What does that mean?" she wondered.

Feeling vulnerable at their current location, he pointed at a dense thicket nearby. Silently, the two of them moved inside, out from sight from any predators.

"_Unbreakable objects_ are exactly what they mean," he explained. "They cannot be broken or destroyed."

"But if that's the case," she objected, "how will we complete this quest?"

"We need to defeat the boss nearby."

"Boss?" she wondered. "Don't those only appear near the floor exit?"

"That's true," admitted Kirito. "Perhaps it's better to think of this as an optional one, or possibly even a mid-boss?"

"There is such a thing as a mid-boss?"

"Think about it," he said. "Strictly speaking, we don't need to do this quest. We're only here to level up. Which means we don't have to defeat this boss either."

"Ah! I see now," answered Taiga. "_That's_ why you call them optional bosses."

"But," she continued. "I don't see any enemies around here. Should we do something to make the boss come here?"

"See the clearing around the herb?" he asked, pointing towards the area. "I'm guessing that the boss will make an appearance when we enter there."

Taiga opened her _Game Menu_, checking her status. Satisfied, she turned to Kirito who was doing the same.

"I'm ready, what about you?"

"Ready," he answered. "Let's do this."

* * *

_**Abandoned Temple, Floor 01**_

"Finally, we made it!" exclaimed Rin as she got off the boat.

She looked at her surroundings. There was a lot of green foliage in the area, with a few coconut trees growing near the riverbed, and right in front of her, was an old broken down Aztec temple.

"So this is where the _Clare Bible_ is supposed to be?" asked Agil, coming up behind her.

She turned her head back, nodded towards him then looked forward again. There were steps leading to the top of the temple, with vines growing all over the place; the building also had holes in random locations. Squinting her eyes, it looked like there was something glowing at the top, but she couldn't be sure.

"I think I see something at the top," she commented. "But I can't tell what it is."

Agil picked a stone from the ground and threw it over the steps. The pair watched as the stone bounced a few times before coming to a stop.

"Doesn't look like it's booby-trapped," concluded the axeman. "Let's hurry to the top and get out of here before something else shows up."

"Yes," nodded Rin, as she began climbing the steps behind him. "I don't think I can stand another encounter with that _octopus_ today."

* * *

_**Steps, Abandoned Temple, Floor 01**_

"When will these things end?" complained Rin as she continued climbing.

"Keep at it," encouraged Agil. "It doesn't look _too_ far away now."

* * *

_**10 minutes later**_

"Does that crack look familiar to you?" asked Agil pointing to one of the steps.

"You must be imagining things," answered Rin. "It would have to be a tremendous coincidence for this crack to look identical to the one we saw 200 steps ago."

"You've been counting the steps?"

"An attempt at defeating boredom," she replied. "Doesn't seem to be working."

* * *

_**15 minutes later**_

"Are you _sure_ that crack doesn't look familiar?"

"Listen muscle-head," came the annoyed reply. "I'm hot, tired and not in a mood to confirm to you that we've been seeing the exact same crack over 6 times now."

"So, it reappeared at least 6 times?" asked the axeman.

"It's a different crack," she answered. "Now stop looking at steps and concentrate on whatever is glowing on the top of this stupid temple!"

* * *

_**10 minutes later**_

"I have a feeling," began Agil, "that something very wrong is going on here."

"You think?" came the sarcastic reply.

The two of them had spent the last 30 minutes climbing the temple steps. But no matter how far they climbed, it didn't look like they were making any significant progress. They were high above the ground, but it didn't feel like the top was getting any closer.

"Ahh!" screamed Rin. "You stupid temple!"

Raising her right hand, she pointed it towards the top of the temple and launched a small _Fireball_. The two of them watched it fly towards their destination, disappearing from sight.

"Stress relief?" asked the concerned axeman.

"Stress relief," she nodded.

They continued climbing for few more minutes before Rin heard something approaching from behind. Curious, she looked back to see a _Fireball_ being shot at them.

"Duck!" she shouted, throwing herself to the ground.

Agil did the same, allowing the _Fireball_ to pass harmlessly over their heads.

"Is someone attacking us?" he asked, looking behind them.

"I don't see anyone …" trailed off his companion.

A few minutes later, another _Fireball_ came at them from below. This time instead of dodging, Agil harmlessly swatted it out with the flat end of his axe. Turning to face the girl next to him, he found her deep in thought.

"Rin?" he asked. "Is something the matter?"

"I'm not sure," she answered. "But that _Fireball_ you just dissipated? It's my spell. I recognize the magical signature."

"Are you sure?" he asked in surprise. "Couldn't someone have duplicated or tried casting it in a similar manner?"

"I will not say that it's impossible," she replied. "But I don't use _System Assist_ for my spells and for someone to take the trouble to copy it so perfectly … what purpose would it serve?"

"I don't know," replied the axeman with a shrug.

"For the time being," she continued. "Unless we see evidence that says otherwise, it will be prudent to assume that it was the same _Fireball_ I cast."

"Evidence that says otherwise?!" exclaimed Agil pointing towards the top of the temple. "You launched your spell up, in this direction."

"But that other one came from down there," he said pointing to the steps they climbed. "What other evidence do you need?"

Closing her eyes, Rin stood in silence, deep in thought. Her companion had a point. The direction clearly indicated that someone else must have launched the spell, but her instincts said otherwise; which should be physically impossible. She felt like she was staring at a puzzle, with the solution almost within her grasp. A few minutes later and opening her eyes, she faced the axeman.

"I have an idea," she said. "But it's risky and could backfire."

"I'll try anything at this point," he replied. "What do you have in mind?"

"To climb back down."

"What?!" he exclaimed. "But we spent so much effort climbing all the way up here!"

She pointed towards the top.

"And yet it doesn't seem like we are getting any closer, are we?"

She took a deep breath and looked back the way the came.

"I hate to admit it," she confessed. "But you may have been right about that crack."

"You lost me," he admitted. "I have no idea what you are trying to say anymore. But the bottom line is that we should go back down, right?"

"Not exactly," she clarified. "We should climb down with the intent of going up."

"Eh?"

Looking at his face, it was obvious that he didn't of understanding her. Not in a mood to lecture when she was standing halfway to top of an old temple, she grabbed his hand and pulled him down the steps.

* * *

_**Top of Abandoned Temple, Floor 01**_

"And here we are!" announced Rin, as she proudly stood in front of the altar, at top of the temple.

"How did we get here?" asked her companion, looking confused.

"It involves a bit of theoretical physics, some quantum mathematics, understanding of the ninth dimension of space - "

"Please stop," he interrupted, raising his right hand. "I don't mean to be rude, but I have no idea what any of that means. For now, I'll just be grateful that you were with me."

"Ignoramus," she audibly mumbled, with a noticeable frown.

Privately, she was grinning. It had been a random guess on her part that _backtracking_ would work; she was relieved when she found out that she wouldn't need to confess her bluff.

"So which of these is the _Clare Bible_?" he asked, pointing to the two glowing books on the altar.

"We open and find out," she replied, reaching out to one of the books.

As soon as her hand touched the cover of the book, white sparks shot out, forcing her to withdraw. The two players watched as a white orb, similar to an experience orb, came out from the center of the altar and float in the air above.

The pair glanced at each other before turning to study the orb. Rin stretched her hand towards it and a holographic message appeared before them,

"_Congratulations! By making it this far you have earned a copy of the Clare Bible and access to the Teleportation-Backtrack spell. Best of luck to your journey ahead!"_

"So …," slowly began Agil, "does this mean we've finally found it?"

The relief was evident in his voice. Rin allowed his optimism to infect her as well.

"Yes," she replied, picking up the book titled '_Clare Bible_ - copy'.

The moment she touched the other book, it disintegrated in a shower of pixels with her _Spell Menu_ popping in front of her. It glowed with a new entry titled '_Teleportation-Backtrack_'.

"Damn," complained Agil, "another spell I can't use. And this one has an even larger prana requirement than any of the others!"

"But I can," countered Rin, as she read how the spell worked. "It's a limited _Teleportation_ spell."

"I could guess that from the name," he replied sarcastically. "What's so special about it? You're limited to teleporting behind your back?"

"Not exactly," she replied with a smirk. "There are limits, but with this I can instantly teleport to any location I've been in previously - reason why it's called the _Backtrack_ spell."

"So we can reach the bottom of this temple without using those stairs?" asked Agil looking worriedly at the aforementioned steps.

"Even better," Rin replied, grabbing his hand. "I'll take us straight back to the entrance of Zelas Temple."

* * *

_**Clearing, Western Forest, Town of Beginnings, Floor 01**_

As soon as Kirito stepped into the clearing, he _felt_ it. Judging from the way his companion tensed, he guessed that she did as well. The anticipation, the invisible weight in the air, the silence of the noise - as kendo veterans both of them knew what it meant. The prelude to a battle.

They didn't have to wait long; a large bear jumped into the center of the clearing, in front of the shielded herb. Standing on its hind legs, it was twice as tall as Kirito, with dark brown fur, cold black eyes and glowing maroon claws sticking out of it's front paws. To make matters worse, the beast was wearing iron chest armor and had two bars of HP.

"Looks like we have our work cut out for us," he commented.

"There's a saying in my family," said his companion. "The bigger they are, _the harder they fall_."

Taiga, katana in her right hand, charged towards the beast. As soon as she was in striking distance, the bear slashed forward, attempting to throw her to the side. Instead of dodging the attack, she _jumped_. Kirito had never seen a move like it before. He didn't think it was a legal kendo move, but that didn't matter. Her legs spun over her head at the apex of her arc and she brought them down on the bear's head. It howled in pain as it lost a large chunk of HP, but she wasn't done.

Without losing momentum, she brought her katana down on the beast's left shoulder and ran down its back, leaving behind a shallow cut. Jumping off, she spun round and held her position defensively.

"Its armor won't come off?!" she exclaimed.

It was then that Kirito realized her true plan. Considering the difference in size, the bear was forced to bend forward, lowering its height while it attacked her. She used that opportunity to attempt knocking the beast out by smashing its head - a move normally made impossible due to their relative heights. And if that didn't work, the follow up slash would cut the strings holding the armor up; forcing it to fall, leaving her opponent in a much more vulnerable position.

"Unfortunately, the only thing we can do in this world is either to smash the armor or pierce through it. I've heard that expert assassins have a _Skill_ to subtly remove their opponents armor, but no one in the Beta ever managed that far."

"Damn …"

"Now," smiled Kirito, "it's _my_ turn."

He crouched, taking an offensive position with the sword on his right side. There was considerable distance between the bear and himself, but it didn't matter. As the bear gathered itself from Taiga's attack, he started running towards the beast.

"_Speed Thrust!_"

The next moment, a blur passed beside the bear, leaving a small cut on it's right arm; Kirito materializing on the other side of the animal. Quickly turning back towards his opponent, he charged again,

"_Speed Thrust!_"

Taiga watching as her ally left a cut on the bear's left arm this time.

"_Speed Thrust!_" "_Speed Thrust!_" "_Speed Thrust!_" "_Speed Thrust!_"

Under normal circumstances, the move he used was meant to ram straight into his opponent. It always carried the risk of breaking the users weapon, if the opponent's armor was strong enough to withstand the attack; but Kirito wasn't attacking the bear's chest. Instead, he just grazed the animal on it's armorless arm, dealing negligible damage.

By repeatedly attacking however, the 'negligible damage' added up. Since the attack _technically_ missed piercing the opponent, Kirito wouldn't be suffering from exhaustion and would be able to relaunch the next strike without giving the bear any time to recover.

Taiga watched as the bear, who started the fight with two full health bars was now down to less than one full bar. She wasn't sure how much damage she dealt to the animal, but it was obvious that Kirito was doing a much better job of chipping away its health.

He suddenly stopped attacking and appeared beside her, sweating and panting hard.

"I **pant**," he said. "need a **pant** quick **pant** breather."

She corrected her earlier assessment. Even if the individual strikes didn't tire him out, similar to how the bear lost it's HP, Kirito still lost stamina. Unlike the bear however, he could recover by standing still for a few minutes.

Taiga noted that the bear had less than half a health bar remaining. She felt a little sad, attempting the final strike after the damage Kirito dealt, but since they weren't competing, she rationalized that it wasn't a problem.

Running a small distance from Kirito, Taiga took a deep breath and _roared_ at the bear. Angrily, the animal growled back. Without warning, she charged forward, head first, katana trailing behind in her right hand.

The bear dropped to the floor on its front paws, and ran towards her. The two accelerated, quickly closing the gap between themselves. The animal opened its mouth wide, intending to bite off the prey's head.

It was exactly the response she was hoping for - Taiga didn't roar for no reason after all, it was bait for the animal to try and bite her. Eyes glowing a feral red, with dangerous grin on her face; she charged in towards her opponent, bringing her katana forward, acting as a makeshift lance. She saw fear in the beast's eyes as it realized that a blade was about to ram into its open, defenseless mouth.

By then, it was too late. Taiga had thrust the sharp end of her katana through the bear's orifice and out of the back of its head. It disintegrated in a beautiful pixel shower, distributing experience points to all members of the party who killed it.

Walking up to her, Kirito smiled as he realized that she was the one panting at the end of the fight - the exact opposite of what had happened the first time.

"Impressive kill strike," he commented.

"Just took a leaf out of your book," she answered, smiling at him.

"After delivering this," he said plucking the herb from the ground, force-field no longer protecting it, "let's return to the Inn to meet back up with everyone."

* * *

_**Zelas Temple, Floor 01**_

Two fluorescent circles appeared on the ground, in front of the temple. They rose into the air, leaving behind a faint blue blur; when it vanished, Rin and Agil stood in its place.

"Wow," he said taking stock of his surroundings, "We really _are_ back at the temple."

"Yes," she replied. "Now let's find that priest to annul our marriage."

"About that," began the axeman as he climbed the stairs, "I know we agreed to go our separate ways after this was over, but …"

"Go on?" she said, encouraging him, as she followed behind.

"Would you consider forming a party with me?"

"Odd thing to ask," she commented. "to someone you are about to divorce."

"A union neither of us wanted," he pointed out. "Should I take that as a no?"

Rin shook her head.

"As long as you are clear that I am already married," she answered. "I see no reason why not."

He audibly snorted.

"Right back at you," he teased, opening the temple door.

It opened to reveal a disturbing sight.

A young girl with blue hair, was kneeling near the podium at the center, crying. As worrisome as that was, even more disturbing was the condition of her legs. They seemed to be made of sand, which was leaking away. On second glance, it was obvious that her body was slowly turning into sand. The status markings floating above her head, marked her as a human player.

Xelloss looked up to the pair as they entered. Holding his staff in his left hand, he used his right hand to wave at the couple, before walking up to them.

"Greetings Miss Rin and Mister Agil," he said, smiling through his closed eyes, "Can I assume that your return means that you recovered the book?"

"Yes," answered Rin. "But what's happening to the girl crying over there?"

The priest opening his eyes, turned to look at said girl with a sad expression.

"I am afraid," he explained. "That she has caught a curse which causes her entire body to turn to sand. The final stage just began 10 minutes ago - the pain is what's causing the water-works."

"Isn't there any way to save her?" asked Agil, worry evident in his voice.

"There is an artifact available that can cure her condition … but it's located on the third floor."

"How much time does she have left?" enquired Rin.

"Another hour at most," answered the priest.

Rin sadly looked back at the girl. Considering that the first floor hadn't been cleared in all this time, it was very unlikely that anyone would be able to make it to the third floor and back within an hour just to save her. Rin didn't want to let her die, but she knew that she was powerless to help.

"This artifact," began Agil. "By any chance is there a copy of it we can use, hopefully located somewhere on this floor? What is it called anyway?"

Xelloss seemed to become nervous at the question, opting to look to the side instead, before answering the axeman.

"Technically," he replied, "there is a copy on the current floor which can be used, but …"

"But what?" asked Agil, confused over the priest's hesitation.

"I'm not sure if I should mention it's name to either of you," concluded Xelloss.

In a spark of realization, Rin widened her eyes.

"By any chance," she slowly said, "are you referring to our copy of the _Clare Bible_?"

Xelloss silently nodded.

"Rin - let's give it to her," suggested Agil.

"Looks like we'll be stuck with each other for a little longer …" she trailed off.

Withdrawing the artifact from their inventory, she wordlessly gave the book to the priest, tilting her head towards the crying girl.

Accepting the book from her hands, he turned towards the podium; raising his staff in one hand and book in the other.

"_Rejoice Sachi!_" he exclaimed, startling everyone present.

"The good people behind me have sympathized to your cause," he continued. "You will no longer need to worry about being swept up and thrown into the rubbish bin. I have here with me a genuine copy of the _Clare Bible_. We will commence your healing immediately."

He threw the _Clare Bible_ into the air, raising his staff; a blue beam of light emerged from it, hitting the book. It burst open, sending pages flying around all over the room. They eventually settled on the walls, some pages on top of each other. An even darker shade of blue light shot out from the pages, concentrating at the center of the podium where Sachi was suffering.

A bird's eye view of the scene would resemble the spokes of a bicycle, even though the lights concentrated around the crying girl, there was a small space near the podium where the blue lights did not enter.

Instead, the central space began to glow green, creating a whirlwind which collected all the dirt present within the temple. Rin & Agil held on tightly to the pews to prevent themselves from being sucked in.

What happened next was a phenomena that Rin had never witnessed before. The _light_ within the temple seemed to shift, moving into the whirlwind as well. She couldn't see anything at all; even blinking her eyes, there was nothingness. It was pitch black.

And just as abrubtly, everything was back to normal again. It happened so suddenly that Rin was concerned if she had been forcefully teleported. A quick stock of her surroundings, however indicated that it was not the case.

At the very center of the temple, standing next to the podium on her restored human feet was the girl. It looked like the procedure had been a success. She wobbled a bit, unsure of herself and had to hold onto the podium with her left hand to stand upright.

The temple doors slammed open, revealing a male player. He was dressed in black robes with his hood open, hanging behind his neck. Rin's eyes widened as she recognized him.

"Sachi!" the newcomer called out. "Did you make it here alright? Are you cured?"

"I'm over here!" replied the girl, wobbling near the podium. With her free hand she pointed to the pair standing behind the priest.

"Those two saved my life …" she trailed off, before collapsing onto the floor. The newcomer quickly ran to hold her.

"I wouldn't worry any further, if I were you," commented Xelloss. "She's out of danger and just exhausted from the experience. A good rest should bring her back to her usual, bothersome self."

"Buuuut," stretched out the priest, quirking an eyebrow. "I'm not sure who you are. Miss Sachi obviously considers you an ally, but I fail to see the connection."

"Forgive me," explained the newcomer, picking up the unconscious girl in a bridal carry. "She is my blood cousin and we're members of the same party."

"I am very grateful for your help," he continued, addressing the couple. "You have my sincerest gratitude." bowing as deeply as he could, while still holding Sachi in his arms.

"My, my," commented Rin. "I never expected to meet you again, much less in a place like this."

"R-Rin?" stammered the black robed player as he stood straight, recognizing her voice.

"It's been a long time," she smiled. "Issei."

He stared at her in shock, disbelief evident on his face. Shaking his head in an attempt to regain his composure; he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Much as I hate to admit it," he finally said, opening his eyes, "I owe you a debt. Is there any way it can be settled immediately?"

"For now," she answered, looking towards the girl in his arms. "I think you have other priorities."

"Thank you," he replied walking towards the exit. "We will meet again."

They stood quietly as the door closed behind him.

"Someone you used to know?" asked Agil, breaking the silence.

"We've worked together before," she answered, recalling the time when she served Issei as Vice President in Junior High for four years.

"I take it, that you aren't on friendly terms with each other?"

"More like we have difficulty getting along," she corrected, "My _husband_ likes him."

"A more pressing matter on the other hand …" she trailed off, turning towards the priest.

* * *

_**A few days later, Starting City, Floor 01**_

Rin found herself enjoying breakfast in front of a familiar café; unlike before, she wasn't alone this morning.

"Any idea on what to do next?" asked Agil, munching a croissant.

"Our first priority is to get to the third floor," she replied. "After which, we'll need to start looking for clues about where exactly the _Clare Bible_ copy is located."

"Yes," he agreed. "Pity that priest didn't know anything else about it."

"What is the current level of progress with gaining access to the second floor?"

"You mean you didn't get the message?"

"What message?" she asked, concerned about missing important information.

The axeman opened his _Game Menu_ and dragged out a letter that had been sent to all the players.

"This one," he answered, offering her the letter. "Basically it says that the boss room was found two days ago and that some beta player is organizing the attack."

"Oh yes," replied Rin, recognizing the letter. "I remember this message. He suggested charging into the boss room with teams spaced 10 minutes apart, right? A suicide attempt, if you ask me."

"Can't argue with that," agreed Agil. "Last I heard, they lost 23 players so far."

"How are people still listening to the fool when so many casualties are involved?"

"I've hear that he's very charismatic," replied Agil. "Also the boss doesn't regenerate health, so their idea is to slowly chip away at him."

Rin shook her head in disappointment.

"So what happens when the boss is defeated?" she asked. "Does everyone instantly get teleported to the next floor or something?"

"We don't get teleported," answered Agil. "As to what happens … it will depend on what the the story arc will be."

"Story arc?" she puzzled.

"It was something they introduced as a result of the beta tests," he explained. "After playing for hours, the most common complaint was about the lack of a plot."

"I can understand that," she nodded. "It would quickly become boring if this game was only about climbing a castle. In fact, I have been wondering about it for some time now."

"This first floor, exists as a kind of tutorial floor," he continued. "It's the reason why there hasn't been any game-related story event so far."

"Are you telling me that the real plot starts from the second floor?"

"More like the next set of plots," he clarified. "According to the _User Manual_, instead of a single story, there are different story arcs in _Aincrad_. Each arc tells a story across multiple floors."

"What kind of stories can we look forward to?"

"The _User Manual_ says that inspiration was taken from old myths and legends."

The pair resumed their breakfast in silence. Agil looked at the street. There were a few vendors selling fruit nearby, a sign pointed to a tavern in the next corner and lots of people - players and NPCs alike walked around, minding their own business. Seeing a couple walking arm-in-arm reminded him of his wife.

"I wonder what she's doing right now …" he trailed off, with a dreamy look in his eyes.

"Who are you talking about?" asked Rin curiously.

"My _wife_ back in the real world," he replied. "Don't you worry about your _husband_ too?"

She nodded, closing her eyes. Under normal circumstances, she would have expected her red haired husband to come rushing in to save her - even at the cost of his own life. But the current situation was more complicated. It was almost a certainty that if he tried anything, she would be killed - forcing him to play the role of a bystander.

A loud bell interrupted Rin from her musings.

"What was that?" she asked.

Agil activated his _Game Menu_ in response, scrolling through the different options.

"I think it means that the first boss was just defeated," he guessed. "Which also means that we should get a message about the upcoming story arc … Ah, here it is!"

He opened a new message which confirmed his conjecture. Reading further, he started chuckling.

"What's so amusing?" asked Rin curiously.

"The back-story for the upcoming story arc is just typical," he answered. "It's about an old Sumerian tyrant - guy doesn't care for his people, they need help … etcetera,etcetera."

"Here's his picture," said the axeman, showing her the message.

Rin's eyes widened in shock - the yellow hair, golden earrings, red eyes,arrogant face - there was no way she could ever forget him.

"Epic of Gilgamesh," continued Agil, reading the text below the picture.

* * *

_To Be Continued …_

**If you've read this far, please leave a review!**


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